Dear Mya, I love you
by OnTheBrinkOfInsanity
Summary: Mara is appointed the role of an 'Agony Aunt' for the school newspaper. She starts getting emails from a student, seeking advice on his love life. When she finds out who it is, Mara is determined to help things work out to her liking. REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

_Dear Mya,_

_I've just made this new friend but i'm beggining to wonder if they're really my friend at all. They're constantly getting me into trouble and leading me anywhere apart from class. Before I met them, I had a perfect record and hardly ever got myself into trouble. How should I tell them that I want to focus on my work?_

_GoodGirlGoneBad_

Mara thought to herself for a little while. This was her last email of the day and she wanted to make it good. She was sat on her bed, her laptop on her legs and a bowl of popcorn on her lap. This was how she spent most evenings, ever since Ms. Andrews had appointed her this role for the school newspaper.

Taking some popcorn in her mouth, she resumed typing.

_Dear GoodGirl,_

_It sounds to me as if this friend isn't really a friend at all. I suggest that you tell them that you want to remain friends but want to leave some time for homework and things. That school is a priority. I'm sure that they will understand, if not, well, you have other friends don't you?_

Mya.

She smiled, happy with her work and shut the laptop. She looked around the room, desperate for something to do. If it were last term, she would've just talked with Patricia or Amber and Joy. But that changed when Nina came and when Joy disappeared.

Mara didn't hate Nina, she was just jealous. Since she was here, she hadn't spoken to Amber or Fabian nearly as much she used to. She at least had Patricia, at the beginning, even if she was obsessed with Joy's absence. But somehow, Nina had managed to rope Patricia into her gang, rendering Mara completely alone.

That was until Alfie was sucked into their club, consequently abandoning Jerome. Mara smiled as she remembered the first day that she had spent with him. He had caught up with her in the corroder- both alone- and asked if she wanted to join his 'loner club'.

And for a little while, they enjoyed being loners together. Until, Mick came back. Everything was fine, she had her boyfriend back, or so she thought.

Turns out, she liked Jerome's company better than Mick's. Playing chess was more fun than listening to how Joel Bradburn had cheated in the last game. Soon enough, she found herself craving a conversation with someone just a little smarter than him. She missed talking to Jerome or even the complete silence that they sat through during a riveting chess game.

At first, Mara couldn't beleive that she had found someone good enough to play against, someone that even knew the rules of the game. Then, she couldn't believe that someone had beaten her.

That smirk that made Mara's legs go weak and how he would be smug about it for the rest of the day.

Mara smiled at the memory and got up off of her bed. Going downstairs, she noticed how quiet the house was. Upon entering the kitchen, she saw that it was only Eddie, Jerome and Joy in the room.

"Where is everybody, this time?" she asked no one in particular. Eddie answered.

"Who knows, they're always sneaking around." he said, tossing an apple in the air and catching it. She she shrugged and went over to sit next to Joy- the only actual friend she had for the past few weeks.

She looked around and saw her friends glum faces.

"Why the long faces?" she said, pouring herself some orange juice. Joy gave her a look as if to say, 'don't act like you don't know'.

"Well," Jerome said, sitting at the opposite end of the table. "All of our friends have ditched us, they're sneaking around behind our backs and... we're out of milk." he put his feet up on the table and leaned back on the chair.

Mara rolled her eyes at the last one. Eddie came and sat in the middle and looked to Mars just as Joy had done moments ago.

"Come on, we don't need them." Mara encouraged them. "You don't even like Nina." she poked Joy's arm. "Or Amber."

"Yeah, but I like Fabian. And Patricia's my best friend, do you know how much we talk these days?" she raised her eyebrows. "Whenever she's lost something in our room or when she tells me to turn the lights off."

"Yeah, my own girlfriend spends more time with Alfie than she does with me." Eddie interjected.

"Well Alfie doesn't talk to me at all now. He's too busy with Amber." Jerome said Amber's name in a mocking tone. "And now I'm stuck here with you people."

The other three stared at him, obviously annoyed and offended.

"Except Mara." he added as an afterthought but then remembered where he was. "I'm just joking don't look at me like that."

Before anyone could say anything, Vera walked in, giving them a suspicious look. Mara looked down at her juice, not wanting to look into her eyes. Even though she didn't get suspended, she knew that Vera hadn't forgiven her for showing her up.

"Where are all the others?" she asked.

"They all left something at the school." Eddie lied. "They just went back to get it."

Mara and Joy nodded in agreement when she looked to them.

"Ok but they better be back before ten o' clock. " She nodded and left, back up to her room.

"Why are we helping them?" Jerome said once her footsteps had descended. "What have they ever done for us?"

"Alfie's your best friend." Joy reminded him.

"Mhmm." He rolled his eyes, not interested.

"I just want to know what they're doing." Eddie said through a mouthfull of food. "I'm sick of all the sneaking around, you know."

Joy nodded, "What if... we follow them. Then we'll know what they're hiding from us." she suggested. However, only Eddie was for the idea. Mara and Jerome disapproved.

"I don't care what they're doing." Jerome shrugged.

"Yeah, how about we just leave it. We have each other, we don't need them." Mara said. "They are not our only friends."

"Mara and I are already friends and her and Jerome are close." Mara blushed a little at Joy's words. "I'm sure we can all bond."

Both of the boys made a face. "Yeah, me and Jerry aren't exactly all that close." he gestured between himself and Jerome.

"That's why I said bonding." Joy rolled her eyes. "Let's all go out tomorrow after school. I know this small cafe a couple of streets away. We could all go there."

"I'm in." Mara smiled. "How about you two?"

"What do you say Jerry?"

Jerome looked to Mara and she gave him an encouraging smile. "Err, fine." he sighed.

"Great!" Mara got up. "Joy, we should get going to bed."

"Ok, i'm pretty tired." she said also getting up. "Night boys."

They all exchanged their 'good nights' and made their way to their rooms.

**ASDFGHJKL**

In the middle of the night, Mara was woken up by a notification sound coming from her laptop. She was s light sleeper and couldn't get back to sleep after she had woken so she sat up in bed. Curious as to what it was, she opened her laptop snd checked the tool bar.

One new message.

Confused by the senders choice in time to be writing, she opened it. It was a message for her Dear Mya column.

_Dear Mya,_

_I love her. I have for years, I just don't know how to tell her. She used to be a close friend of mine but we drifted apart last year. I still talk to her her, and did recently, but she thinks that it's totally platonic. Should I tell her and if so, how? What if this messes up our friendship? Then I'll have no chance with her. Help, please._

_Head over heels_

Mara mentally 'aww'ed and studied the email. If she put the wrong answer, she could ruin this boy's chance at love. She dissected each part and finally decided that she would have to sleep on it. It was too important to just improvise.

She put the laptop away and went back under her covers, smiling slightly. She was honored that someone had trusted her with something like this. Normally, the questions were 'How do I get rid of spots?' or 'What do I do if I've been caught for bunking?'

What excited her the most was that it was someone in her school. Someone that she walked past in the corridors everyday. And the girl that he loved could be in her science class or had the locker across from her.

It could even be someone in her house. One of her friends.

Eventually, Mara fell asleep, still pondering over the email.

**ASDFGHJKL**

"Patricia, hurry up! I need to go to the toilet." Mara complained. She'd been waiting outside for at least ten minutes. She looked over to where Joy was sleeping soundly and decided that she looked too peaceful.

She crept over to her bed. Yelling 'wake up', she pulled her duvet off violently, Joy falling off of the bed in the process.

"What'd you do that for?" she yelled once she was fully awake. Mara fell on her bed laughing, unable to get the words out.

"I was bored." she managed. "Sorry... well not really."

Joy got up, still annoyed just as Patricia came out of the bathroom. She shot into there, pushing the girl out of the way. She stood in the door way, stuck her tongue out at Mara and slammed the door shut.

"Alright, I guess I deserved that." she chuckled and turned to Patricia who looked confused.

"So, are you going to walk to school with us?" Mara didn't expect her to, she just wanted to show her how many times that she'd stood her up.

"I would, but I've got to go somewhere really quick." she lied. "But I'll sit with you at lunch if you want."

It was an empty offer, Mara knew that. She probably had to meet up with the rest of them to discuss the oh so secret thing that they'd been hiding.

"No, that's ok." she said as Patricia smiled and left, not really hearing what Mara had just said.

"She's gone to her new best friends then?" Joy scoffed, closing the bathroom door behind her.

"Well we don't care, remember? We have each other. And Jerome. And Eddie. We're fine without her." Mara said, trying to convince herself aswell as Joy.

"Great, now hurry up or we'll be late for school." Joy shooed her into the toilet.

Brushing her teeth, Mara was still thinking about the email. She'd just about decided how to reply to it and was planning on doing it at break.

For now, she finished getting ready and joined Joy in going down to breakfast. They entered the dining room where only Jerome and Eddie sat, wrestling with forks.

"Hello ladies." Eddie greeted in a terrible British accent.

They both laughed and sat down. Mara next to Jerome, Joy next to Eddie. Jerome gave her a small smile as she sat down and Mara returned it, blushing a little.

"So, are we going to that cafe after school?" he asked Joy.

"Yeah, if you all want to." she said after a spoonful of cereal. "It's not very well known so there won't be many people there."

Eddie was about to say something but was interrupted by Vera.

"You four better get along to school otherwise you'll be late. Come on now." she lead them out of the door and slammed the door shut after. They all stared at each other.

"I didn't even have my breakfast." Mara pouted. They laughed at her.

"That lady is beyond crazy." Eddie said, fixing his hair.

And they carried on insulting Vera the whole way to school.

**Hope you enjoyed, REVIEW!**

**x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Asdghjkl is just a line break, sorry if it confused you. I'll just put 'Line break' now, much simpler!**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

Break time finally came around and Mara shot out of her class to the drama room. Not that she didn't enjoy History, she was just itching to reply to the boy. She found a seat with not too many people around and got started.

_H-o-H_

_I think that you should definitely tell the girl how you feel, but do it gradually. Start by gaining her trust. Let her know that you're a great friend. Maybe then she'll begin to realize that she loves you too. Firstly, I would suggest hinting at lunch. Casually ask her if she'd like to eat with you. I'd love to know how this turns out so if you would like to, I have a private email address. If you want to tell me how it's going or if you would like further advice._

_Mya_

Mara smiled, happy with her work and shut the laptop just as Joy and Eddie came to sit with her. They were quite obviously quarreling about something.

"That's not something you should say to a teacher, Eddie." Joy scolded.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Me and Joy were-"

"Joy and I." Jerome corrected him, sitting opposites Joy.

"Whatever dude, anyway, we were partners in science and I may have accidentally spilt some sodium ch... some blue stuff on Mr. supply teacher."

"He said 'watch where your going, old man'," she continued, mocking his accent. "And now we both have detention after school." she whacked him upside the head when she was finished.

"Well Jerome and I can wait for you. It's only fifteen minutes isn't it?" Mara continued when Eddie nodded. "And we can go straight to the cafe from there."

"Fine." Joy huffed and hit Eddie again. "This is my first detention all year, thank you very much."

Eddie smiled goofily. "Well get ready for plenty more if you're going to be friends with me."

**Line Break**

Mara and Jerome bid farewell to Joy and Eddie as they entered they entered the detention room. Awkwardly, they stood near the lockers, neither of them knowing what to say. Mara looked anywhere but him, her gaze wandering around the plain walls and the orange lockers.

"You know," Jerome surprised her when he spoke up. "We used to be close." he stated.

Mara finally looked at him, a little confused by his statement. He stared down at her with no emotion in his icy blue eyes. She quickly looked away. She could never think straight when he was staring at her like that.

"Yeah, used to be." she said. She could feel him staring at her but looked straight ahead, deciding not to open up to him.

She had so much to say, but didn't know how to say it.

"Well what happened?" he continued, urging her on.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Things change."

Jerome disagreed. "Not in my book." he shook his head and stood on front of her so that she was forced to look at him.

"Let's go out to lunch, catch up on things." he suggested.

"We're are. I like, ten minutes." she smiled, oblivious to his real intentions.

"No, I mean alone." he raised his eyebrows. "How about it?"

Looking at his face, Mara found it quiet hard to refuse.

"Okay, tomorrow lunch." she smiled. He smiled. The innocent grin soon turned into a michevious one and Mara's faltered.

"Why.. why are you looking at me like that?" she inquired. When he didn't answer, she began to worry.

"Jerome? What are you thinking?" she said, this time more urgently.

"Oh nothing. Just... just nothing." his smile grew.

Before Mara could question him anymore, Eddie and Joy came out of the classroom, happy that it was over.

"Alrighty, let's go!" Joy smiled. She linked arms with Mara and they set off, already chatting about their day. Jerome and Eddie not far behind, also talking. Just not as enthusiastically.

**Line Break**

"Why would you put moths in a bag in the first place?" Joy asked Jerome.

"It was for a prank I had planned. Unfortunately, they somehow escaped. Although I gave a feeling Alfie had something to do with it."

"You are ab idiot." Mara said, giggling.

"A good looking idiot." he ran his hand through his hair.

Joy joined in with Mara's laughing and soon they all were, causing the workers and the few customers to stare at them.

They were sitting boys on one side and girls on the other. Each of them had a cup of tea ( or coffee in Joy's case) and a slice of Victoria sponge.

"I need more cake." Eddie announced.

"Go and get some then." Jerome scoffed as if he had just said the smartest thing in the world.

"I don't want to get up." he huffed. "And besides, I can just do this." He swapped his empty plate for Joy's.

Not protesting, she shrugged and drank some more of her coffee.

"Eurgh, how can you drink that?" Mara made a face. "Coffee is vile stuff and I never intend on drinking one drop of it in my entire life." she said matter of factly.

"How do you know it's vile if you've never tasted it." Joy waved her cup in front of Mara's face.

"On the topic of coffee," Jerome started. "Come to my room after ten tonight and we can all play truth or dare."

Everyone else just stared at him.

"What the hell!"

"What on earth has that got to do with coffee?" Eddie asked.

"I don't know." he shrugged. "You tell me."

"Okay..." Joy said.

"I'm game." Eddie slapped Jerome on the shoulder. He didn't flinch but Mara had a feeling that it had hurt him.

She hesitated before she answered. Being the good girl she was, she break the rules. "Yeah, alright." she nodded. "Joy and I will rade the kitchen and get snacks before bed."

"Cool, but we really should get going now." Jerome looked at his watch. They all agreed and walked back to the house.

**Line Break**

"It's ten o' clock." Victor boomed. "You have five minutes, then I want to hear a pin drop."

Mara and Joy were in their beds, pretending to sleep while Patricia was. They were just waiting for a little, just until Victor went to bed.

About fifteen minutes later, they tip toed out of their room. Holding their breath for a reason neither of them knew, they snuck down the stairs and into the kitchen.

They grabbed all the crisps and popcorn they could and made their way to Jerome and Alfie's room.

Not bothering to knock-it was too loud-they entered to find Eddie already there and Jerome fiddling with a deck of cards.

"Finally," Eddie breathed when they arrived.

"Sorry, Victor wouldn't sleep." Joy said as she went to sit opposite Eddie.

"Wait," Mara said, looking over at the other side of the room. "Where's Alfie?"

"We're not the only ones out of bed." Jerome put his cards away and joined them on the floor.

"You mean, Patricia was faking too?"

"Man, I'd kill to know what they're doing!" Eddie looked longingly.

"Let's not dwell on this ok? What's the whole reason that we are here?"

"Truth or dare." Jerome stated. "But I changed my mind, let's just get to know each other a bit more."

Everyone agreed and they went round in the sort-of-circle asking each other questions. Jerome asked Mara, Mara asked Eddie, Eddie asked Joy and Joy asked Jerome.

It started off with things like favorite colors, favorite movie but then it became slightly more personal.

"Ok, Eddie, what are you planning on doing after we finish school?" Mara asked, taking a handful of popcorn from the packet in the middle.

"I don't know!" he said as if it were the most stupid question in the world. "I don't plan that far ahead!" Mara gave him a look and he scoffed. "Ok, then what are you going to do?"

"I have my whole life planned out. Finish school, university, I'll study English and journalism. After that, I'll start up my own newspaper- after I get a little experience that is- and then I'll meet someone, fall in love and have two children. Boy and a girl." she smiled. The others stared at her in awe. "What?"

"You can't be that... specific." Jerome struggled to find the right word. "What if something happens. An accident. One moment could flaw that whole life that you have planned."

"Hmm, I never thought that something would happen." she said thoughtfully. "Anyway, next question."

"Joy," Eddie turned to her. "Who was your first kiss?" he said, smirking.

She blushed and looked down at her hands. Mumbling something incoherent.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I've never kissed anyone." she said slightly louder. Slightly.

Jerome choked on a crisp and Eddie let out a laugh causing her to blush a deeper shade of red. Mara just looked confused.

"But, you kissed Fabian at the dance." she reminded her.

"Yeah, but he thought that I was Nina. That doesn't count." she looked up.

Eddie had stopped laughing and was wiping the small tears that had formed in his eyes. Once he was done, he leaned over and kissed a very surprised Joy shortly on the lips.

"There, now you've had a proper first kiss." he smiled triumphantly while her cheeks coloured and she looked down again.

"How very cliché." Jerome commented.

"Very." Mara agreed. "As cute as this all is, we should really get to bed. It's nearly midnight."

"But I never got to ask you a question." Jerome pouted.

"Ok, one more."

He smirked. "Who do you fancy?" It was Mara's turn to blush as she gaped up at him, opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

"No one." she said shortly, quite obviously lying.

Joy, deciding to save Mara from Jerome's interrogation, got up. "Yeah, I'm pretty tired. Let's go Mara." She dragged Mara up and pulled her out of the door, whispering a quick goodbye to the boys.

LineBreak

"You like Jerome." Joy teased once they were in their beds. Patricia was not back yet so they had the room to themselves.

"What! No I don't!"

"Oh please! Don't deny it, I can see through you like glass."

Mara threw a pillow at her. "Shut up."

They both lay down and were quiet for a few minutes.

"You like him." she smiled teasingly.

Another pillow was aimed at Joy. They were quiet for another few moments.

"Joy?"

"Yeah."

"Can I have my pillow back, my neck hurts."

**Do you think that I could get more than two reviews for this chapter? The two existing ones were much appreciated but I would love some more!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! Thanks for all of your great reviews! Sorry I took so long, I'll try to make them a bit shorter so that it won't take as long.**

**Enjoy!**

_I don't like him. I don't like him. I don't like him._

Mara chanted in her head over and over again as she got ready. First stage of liking a boy: denial. She had fallen for a boy that was so not right for her, that it was indescribable. He was funny, good looking and never had he done wrong by her. But he was also mischievous, scheming, conniving, always up to something.

Mara was brought out of her thoughts by a small PING coming from her laptop. It was another email from the boy! Excitedly, she lay on her bed and opened it.

_Mya,_

_Thank you very much for the advice. I did what you told me and asked her to lunch. Miraculously, she said yes. However, I have no idea what to say, do, if I should treat kit like a date. It's all so confusing! What if, once she spends some time with me, she realizes that she doesn't like me? Should I act like her or the opposite? _

_StillInLove_

Smiling, she re-read it again, and again. And every time she did, it sounded more familiar. She couldn't quite put her finger one it. It was very vaguely in her memory.

Joy appeared from the bathroom just as Mara was racking her brains.

"You ready?" she asked, straightening her grey cardigan.

Mara nodded, shutting her laptop, and joined her friend down to breakfast. She had already forgotten what she was thinking about before.

Surprisingly, everyone was at the breakfast table. It almost seemed normal. It wasn't, though. Nina, Amber and Fabian were discussing something in hushed tones and Alfie and Patricia silently stared down at their food, looking too frightened to speak.

The dead atmosphere was reclaimed by Jerome and Eddie laughing as they flipped spoons off of the table. Mara smiled at them, as did Joy and they went and sat in their usual seats.

"Why are you all so quiet?" Joy questioned, glaring straight at Nina. Alfie and Patricia remained mute.

"Oh.. we were just-"

"Yeah, and... we-we were.."

"Err. Oh.. umm we weren't bei- it's just.. yeah."

They all stammered at the same time.

Amber suddenly looked very serious. "We were talking about Nina's gran." she nodded. "Yeah, she's ill and we really must be going now. She likes visits." she glanced at the others.

Once it finally dawned on them, what she'd said, they nodded in agreement and rushed out. Mara shook her head, seeing straight through their lies.

"Could they be any more transparent?" Eddie also shook his head, a spoon still in his hand.

**Line break**

First period that day was English. Joy and Eddie sat together but Mara and Jerome sat seperatley. Mara on the table in front of the two and Jerome two rows across, at the back.

This confused Mara, greatly. She thought that they were getting lunch together that day. Was he having second thoughts? And if yes, why?

She hadn't done anything to repel him... she hoped.

Dismissing the thoughts from her head, she turned around just in time to see Joy roll her eyes at a drooling Eddie. He was gazing at Miss Valentine- just like the vast majority of males in the classroom.

Joy pushed the hand that he was leaning on, causing him to fall face forward down onto the table. The two girls giggled as Eddie fell out of his daze and rubbed his bruising forehead.

"Girls," Miss Valentine shushed them and went back to her marking.

Mara turned to the book that she was supposed to be reading. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. She'd read the book a couple of times by herself and found it ultimately quite depressing. Especially the chapter she was just about to read. The Bottle Of Wine.

She read a few pages until the bell rang, signaling break time. Sighing, she put her things away and stood from her chair. Only to be knocked back down again by Alfie and Fabian whizzing past her, the rest of their 'gang' going just as fast.

Joy helped her up and they made their way to the door, waiting for Eddie and Jerome in the doorway. Eddie was going extra slowly, smiling at a wierded out teacher. Mara and Joy rolled their eyes, the latter going back into the classroom and dragging him out.

Mara laughed at the two and looked to Jerome, to find him also looking at her. Even from far away, his eyes were still hypnotizing.

He cleared his throat, looking away and hurriedly packing his books back into his bag. Mara smiled slightly to herself but quickly hid it when Joy and Eddie came back.

"Jerome, hurry up." Joy whined. He smirked at her and purposely dropped his books, bending down slowly to retrieve them.

Sighing, Joy went, pushed all of his books into his bag and dragged him out of the room by his ear.

"Why so fiesta today?" Mara linked arms with Joy and the two walked behind the boys.

"Feisty, yes." Eddie said glancing back. "Grumpy also. Annoying, huffy and you have a permanent scowl on your face."

She kicked the back of his knee and he nearly fell to the floor, gripping onto Jerome's shoulder for support.

"Ahh!" he complained but hushed when Joy gave him a death glare.

They sat on a bench outside since the weather was reasonably warm.

"What's wrong?" Mara asked her friend.

She sighed. "You know that Dear Mya column? It's completely taking over my newspaper!"

Mara flinched but kept a calm face. She had to be subtle, otherwise they'd all find out.

"Well, do you like it?"

"Yes." she scowled. "It's fantastic."

Jerome and Eddie looked confused to say the least.

"Then it's good... right?" Jerome raised an eyebrow. "More people will read it."

"Yeah, but they're only buying it because of her. What about my work?"

"I think that article's awesome," Eddie said. " She gives really good advice."

Mara smiled inwardly, he liked it.

"What about you two? Do you think it's good?" Joy turned to Mara and Jerome.

"Yeah, it's good." she commented quietly.

"I-it's... good a-advice." Jerome stumbled over his words which was very unlike him.

Something clicked in Mara's brain. But she refused to believe it. She zoned out for a while, too into her thoughts.

_Could it be? Was Jerome the mystery boy?_

'Well why not,' she thought. 'Why else would this subject be awkward for him?'

Wait... If Jerome really was the boy, then Mara was quite obviously the girl who he was supposedly in love with. He had started talking to her more and the big spoiler, he'd asked her to lunch.

Mara couldn't help the small smile that crept on her face. He liked her.

"Hey," Eddie clicked his fingers in front of her face, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry what were you saying?" she shook her head.

"Who do you think that it is? This Mya person." Joy pushed on.

"It.. it could be anyone. Uhh, maybe not even a girl!" She tried to sound as natural as she could. "I need to go to the restroom. I'll see you in drama." She waved and rushed off.

Nearly at the restroom, Mara walked at a brisk pace. She looked back to see if Joy had followed her. Or worse, Jerome.

Due to the fact that she wasn't looking forwards, she bumped straight into someone, causing them to drop all of their books.

"Watch where your g-" Poppy looked up."Oh, hello Mara!" she finished happily.

Sighing of relief, Mara gave her a quick greeting and a goodbye.

"Wait," the younger girl stopped her. "Have you got a calculator I could borrow."

"Yeah, sure." she fished one out of her bag and handed it to Poppy.

"Thanks, I'll come by your house tonight to give it to you, bye!"

She waved goodbye as her friend half ran half walked to her locker. Mara resumed her journey to the bathroom. Poppy was acting strange (stranger than usual) but there were more pressing matters at hand.

Like the fact that Jerome possibly may be in love with her.

And that she was supposed to be having lunch with him later..

**REVIEW! :) **


	4. Chapter 4

Leaning on the sink, Mara took a deep breath and surveyed her situation. She thought long and hard about it until finally, she saw the bright side of things.

It was all in her hands. She had the power. Smiling slightly, she took out her laptop from her bag and locked herself in the disabled toilet.

If she told him, via email, to do something specific, she'd be sure it was him.

_S.i.l_

_Congrats! She said yes, now you have to show her you care. Ask her about herself, listen to her. And be sure to be a gentleman. You've gotta be polite. Open the door for her when you go in. Also, don't make it any more awkward than it has to be. She said yes. That means she must like you. And she likes you for who you are. Don't forget that. Just be yourself._

_Mya_

Mara re read it, countless times. When she was finally happy with it, she hit send. Watching anxiously as the green bar went up until it reached 100%.

Message sent.

Now she just had to wait for lunch.

**Line Break**

Drama seemed to go by so quickly that Mara thought the bell at the end was actually a fire practice. Time was not on her side. Nerves had taken over the previous feeling of excitement.

Looking around, she saw Jerome waiting for her by the door. She took a deep breath and made her way over. He smiled when he saw her.

"Hey, ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure." They fell into step and Mara kept her focus on their movement, trying to match her footsteps with Jerome's. Just ocupying her mind because she had no idea what to say.

Then, she remembered her advice, her own advicee that she'd given to what was belived to be Jerome.

Don't make it any more awkward than it has to be.

'Yep,"she thought, breathing deeply. 'Just be yourself.'

"So, where are we going?" she didn't look up at him. Talking was as far as she was going to take it.

"Well, I thought we'd go to Mal's, but we don't have to if you don't like it." he reassured her.

Mara could feel him staring down at her but she still refused to meet his gaze.

"No, it's fine. I love Mal's."

A few more minutes of uncomfortable silence went past until he spoke up again.

"Are you scared of me or what?" Mara didn't have to look up to know that that stupid smirk was plastered on his face.

That stupid smirk that made her knee's go weak.

"No." She managed but that was about it. She couldn't get anything else out without her voice quivering.

Jerome suddenly stopped walking and swiveled round so that he was in front of her. "Ok, then I'll just assume that you find your feet very interesting."

Still, she kept her eyes down. Mara gasped when she felt Jerome's two fingers on her chin. She felt something tingle inside of her from just that simple touch.

He tilted her face up so she finally saw the ice cold blue orbs that she had been avoiding.

They quickly changed from icy to warm and hypnotizing upon seeing hers.

"Come on, I don't bite." he smiled slightly and Mara's knee's shook. The bones in her legs were replaced with jelly when she saw his smile.

A women with a frighteningly loud dog ran past them, looking like the canine was taking her for a walk rather than the other way around. The loud barks made the two jump, thus, ruining the moment.

Jerome cleared his throat rather loudly and pointed out that they were there. As the awkwardness crept back into the scene, Mara began to wonder if there was any point in denying her feelings for him. It was really quite obvious that she liked him, so... why not?

As they neared the doors, her heart sped considerably. She felt a range of different emotions rush through her when Jerome quickened his pace and held the door open as Mara entered.

She was relieved because she knew it was him. She felt happy because she knew it was him.

But she was also scared. How would she tell him that she was Mya? Even if she did, he'd probably hate her for keeping such a secret. For being so conniving.

The two took their seats, Jerome sliding into the booth so that he was oppisite Mara.

"So, what do you want to eat?" he asked looking at the menu.

"Whatever you're having I suppose." He looked up at her, the laminate card hiding most of his face. He arched an eyebrow but said nothing, summoning the waiter over.

Mal's was a local diner, not too posh but still had some class. As they were waiting for their food, both struggled to find something to talk about. Although eventually, Mara spoke.

"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?" She chuckled lightly at his confused expression, he answered anyway.

"Vanilla. You?"

"Mint chocolate chip." she smiled.

"Urgh, I hate mint." he made a face, although, Mara could aee the smile beneath it.

"Favorite song?"

She took a while to think about it before answering with Burn by Alyssa Reid.

"Never heard of it before, but it sounds depressing." he said, frowning slightly.

"How could you possibly know that it's depressing? All I said was Burn."

"Well I don't know about you but burning doesn't seem like a very joyous subject to me."

"What's yours then?" Mara asked him.

"Stella by All time low. Amazing song."

Mara made a mental note to listen to the song. If he liked it, she wanted to hear it. Just then, the food arrived. Eyes widening at the amount of food on the plate, she reached down to get her purse out of her bag. She stopped and looked up when she heard Jerome snicker.

"What?" she asked, confused. "Why are you laughing?"

"You- you actually th-thought I'd let you p-p-pay!" he said in-between laughs.

He fished a 20 pound note out of his pocket and gave it to the waiter.

They ate their food whilst talking about various subjects. Not knowing how, they eventually ended up on the topic of Mick.

In all honesty, Mara had kind of forgotten about Mick. They had had mutual break up over Skype (he had gone back to Australia) and it wasn't at all painful or messy. They had both agreed that it wasn't working.

She did however feel strange because of it's comfortableness. She found it weird that after they had ended it, instead of falling into a two week period of depression, she smiled. Maybe that was a sign that they really weren't the best couple around. 'Opposites attract' is true, but Mick and Mara were too different.

"We're not together anymore." she stated simply.

"I know that, but.. are you still talking?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," she shrugged. "We haven't spoke since we broke up. But he told me that he's planning on staying in Australia. For a while at least."

"Mhmm." His eyes twinkled but his face was un-readable.

Once they had finished, they walked back up to the school in a comfortable silence. Neither one of them found the need to fill that silence.

"Thanks.. for that." Mara said, slightly more confidently.

"Anytime, Jaffrey." he winked and sauntered off.

_**Sorry for ending so abruptly.**_

_**So here's the deal. There's no internet connection at home temporarily because.. well I don't even know. But, because of all your motivating reviews, I have stayed behind after school in this.. 'homework club' and uploaded this for you all. How awesome am I? :)**_

_**I'll try and see if I can upload during an I.C.T lesson next time but for now I really must log off now. This teacher is nothing short of a witch..**_

_**;)**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for all your review, alerts and favorites! Enjoy!**

"Mara!" Joy whined.

They were sitting on Mara's bed, Patricia obviously absent from the room. "Help me. I like him but he's going out with Patricia. My used-to-be-best-mate. Does that make me a horrible person." she frowned and let out a groan of frustration, throwing a pillow at the door.

"You do not want to go down that road." Mara advised. "Me liking Mick when he was dating Amber completely ruined our friendship. And the I actually went out with him, I haven't spoke to Amber in a while. Do you want that with you and Patricia?"

"No," she pouted. "But I can't exactly just.. just un like him, can I?"

"You can if.. I get you a boyfriend!" Mara said, excitedly.

"Err, no. I want to at least know if he likes me back!"

Cue huge brown puppy eyes.

"Could you ask him? For me? Just ask Eddie if he likes me."

Mara shielded her eyes. There was no way that she could say no whilst looking at her.

"Nu-uh! No way, forget it!"

"Please." Joy added, jutting out her bottom lip for good measure.

"Uhh, fine!" Mara huffed, getting up. "I'll ask but don't expect a good response! He has a girlfriend."

She left the room and ventured down to the boy's corridor, knocking on Eddie and Fabian's door.

"Come in." Eddie yelled from inside. He was sat on his bed, reading something on his laptop. Smiling when he saw Mara, he put it away and motioned to the other end of his bed.

"Hey Mara," he stretched his arms behind his head. "What is it?"

"I'm going to be blunt, okay." she said sitting on the edge. "Do you like Joy?"

He scoffed, he laughed and he denied it. But then he stopped for a moment to think about it. "Why, do I make it too obvious?"

She rolled her eyes and got up only to walk over to his drawer and fiddle with the action figures sitting on it. Probably Fabian's.

"No, not too much but.. I just wanted to know." She turned around and sat on the bed again. "Yes or no?"

He sighed, sitting up. "Maybe... but I really like Patricia, you know."

She smiled sympathetically. "Why don't you ask Mya?" she said, hoping it sounded innocent.

"Ask Mya?" Eddie smirked knowingly. "Give it up Mara, or.. Mya."

She scoffed. "What are you talking about?" He said nothing. "Ok fine, how did you know?"

"You made it quite obvious yesterday at lunch." he said. "And I kind of used your laptop." he admitted sheepishly

This earned him a pillow to the face from a peeved off Mara. "Eddie! That stuff is private!"

She remained angry at him for only a few seconds. She then contemplated on whether to tell him about Jerome or not. Eventually she decided against it and then remembered why she was there in the first place.

"So you don't like Joy." she clarified. He thought about it for a while before finally deciding no.

"Nah, it wouldn't be right would it. I like Patricia." he finalized. She nodded and got up to leave.

"Oh, Eddie," she stopped at the door. "Touch my stuff again and there will be hell to pay."

She left without waiting for a response.

Line Break.

For the second time that day, Mara wandered down to the boys corridor. She had told Joy about Eddie not liking her back and couldn't stand to be in the same room as her for another second. Her whining was giving Mara a headache.

Jerome's door was slightly open when she came in front of it. She didn't know whether to knock or to just walk in. Eventually deciding that it would be an invasion of his privacy, she decided against walking in and knocked once but stopped herself when she heard voices.

"Yeah, I do." She heard Jerome say and realized that he was on the phone.

"I already have them, they're under my bed." Pause. She couldn't quite hear what the person on the other end of the receiver but Jerome didn't seem too happy to be talking to them.

"Yeah, tonight at 2:00. Well I don't want anyone to be awake. Fine, fine. Ok, bye." He clicked off and Mara took that as her cue to run away.

She ran back up to her room but instantly regretted it. Joy was on the phone to someone, twiddling her finger around her he hair as if he could actually see her.

"Oh, Ethan! You're too kind!" she giggled in a disgustingly girlish way. Mara gagged exaggeratedly in front of her friend's bed, sticking her finger down her throat.

Joy smirked at her, giggled a few more times, said goodbye and hung up,

"Eww! What the heck was that?" Mara complained as soon as the beep could be heard from the phone. "Disgusting, that's what that was."

She answered her own question and flopped down her bed. "Didn't you just like Eddie? Who's this Ethan guy?"

"He is… well I don't know." She shrugged. "He called me at exactly the right time, so why shouldn't I be interested."

"Where is the logic in that?" she rolled her eyes but Joy wasn't even listening. She had gone over to the closet and was shuffling through Patricia's clothes. Mara rolled her eyes again but didn't say anything. She was too immersed in her thoughts.

What on earth was Jerome doing. Drugs. The thought popped into her mind as soon as she heard Jerome but she dismissed it. Okay, he was a bit dodgy at times but she didn't think he was capable of dealing.

Why not?

A little voice in her head said. But she tried to push it off. She didn't want to speak or think ill of Jerome. He loved her didn't he.

I wouldn't put it past him.

The voice piped up again. Mara shook her head and laid down in her bed, wrapping her blue sheets around her herself. She had already decide that she would follow him She was a very curious person, well, she was a journalist, it was part of the job.

She set an alarm to 1:50 on her phone then settled back to sleep. It was only 7:45 but she didn't have anything else to do. And plus, she didn't want to be tired when she was tailing Jerome.

**I'm not extremely proud of this chapter but there you go, I promise there'll be more drama in the next one. Do you think that I should do the next in Jerome's P.O.V?**

**Review so I know what to do! ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hey, thanks again for all your support! So most of you said that I should do this chapter in Jerome's P.O.V but I also get what you said about the consistency. So, I think I found a legit loophole. Review and tell me what you think!**_

_BRING! BRING! BRING!_

Mara awoke suddenly, scared by her violent ring tone. She dismissed it, hating everyone and everything. But, everyone feels like that when they've been rudely awoken from a nice sleep. That feeling, however, was quickly forgotten when she realized why she was awake at this un-godly time of morning.

She jumped out of bed, hoping that Jerome hadn't gone yet. Silently, she sat at the top of the stairs, clutching the banister and waiting for any sign of life in the downstairs corridor. She sat there patiently for about five minutes until she saw the door of Jerome and Alfie's room cracked open. Mara squirmed in her seat, hoping that she wouldn't be seen.

Sure enough, Jerome crept out of the room, wearing nearly all black and with a black satchel draped around his shoulder. His blue eyes darted from side to side until finally deciding that it was safe. Mara watched him leave through the big brown door, not even glancing up the stairs or - to his credit - making a single sound. He was a very sneaky person, she thought, following him out, not making much noise either.

As soon as the cold morning air hit her bare arms, she regretted not putting a coat on or even a cardigan. It was too late to turn back around now. she would lose Jerome. So, dressed in only a yellow short sleeved t-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, she started her trek around campus. She could faintly see Jerome, her target, entering the forest and cursed quietly to herself. Reluctantly, she tip toed after him and began to really hate herself for not grabbing her jacket, but carried on nevertheless.

After minutes of tailing Jerome, ducking behind trees and constantly scraping her skin with the low branches, the boy finally came to a stop at the clearing of the woods. She waited there for something to happen, for someone to come and soon enough, her wish was granted.

Out from the clearing, came a neat looking, middle aged man dressed in a black turtle-neck, black leather jacket and jeans likewise. Mara felt chills down her spine. But she didn't know if it was because of the cold or the presence of this man.

Without a word, Jerome reached into his bag and handed over to the man a transparent glass bottle filled with an off-green liquid. The man had a sinister look on his face as he examined the mystery substance. Finally happy with it, he smiled at Jerome. But it wasn't a well-done-you-did-well type of smile. More like a -creepy-phyco-i'm-going-to-kill-you smile.

"I gave you what you wanted, now will you leave me alone?" Jerome's voice wasn't like usual. He was always so sure of himself. His personality and whole self screamed confidence. Mara shuffled further behind the tree, suddenly afraid of being seen. This man was dangerous, judging by Jerome's uncomfortableness.

He chuckled, darkly. "I never said that I'd leave you alone but... for now, I am done with you. Leave me, boy." he shooed him away with one hand, still staring intently at the bottle.

"But y-you did. Y-you said-"

"LEAVE!" the man cut him off.

Jerome stumbled backwards a little, intimidated by the power in his voice.

"Oh and next time, and there will be a next time, make sure your little friends don't follow you." He glanced back at Mara, looking her dead-straight in the eye. She gasped slightly, the chilling feeling re-entering her body.

She turned around and made to run back but was delayed by a low branch, hanging down from one of the shorter trees. Her forehead came into direct contact with it and she hit the ground with a soft thud.

"_Oh and next time, and there will be a next time, make sure your little friends don't follow you." Rufus glanced behind me. I followed his gaze only to see Mara run straight into a tree branch. Forgetting all about Rufus's threats, he ran back to her aid. He placed a hand underneath her neck as he crouched next to her. _

_She had a light red mark on her head and he placed is other hand against the blood trickling out as he looked around, wondering what to do. Sighing, he carefully lifted her up off of the ground and headed back to the house._

_There was no point in being angry with her, he thought. He looked down at her. She looked so beautiful in his arms, where she belonged. She was so light and.. dainty. Just beautiful. But there was much more to her than that. She was kind-hearted, positive and very obviously smart. Everything that he wasn't. And the worst thing was, she didn't even know it._

_He'd liked her for a long time, but he always thought that Mara knew. That it was a school-boy crush. But lately those feelings had began to grow more defined, he loved her. So he took a long shot and wrote to that new column in the newspaper. Dear Mya. He'd only sent her a couple of messages but her advice had so far been successful and he definitely planned on writing to her more._

_Now, he was worried that he had endangered Mara's life. Rufus had seen her. If he used that to get to him._

_As he approached the doors to Anubis, he snaked out the arm that was underneath her knees to turn the knob. Silently, he entered the house, Mara still in his arms. He didn't even struggle when he was taking her upstairs, she was so light._

_He placed her on her bed, careful not to wake Joy or Patricia. Tucking her under her covers, he left the room, suddenly feeling very empty. He went downstairs to his own room but didn't get into bed. He slumped down onto the chair, sighing exasperatedly and running his hands down his face._

_Jerome didn't sleep at all that night, he was to immersed in his thoughts. Mostly about Rufus but Mara somehow found her way into his head. She always did._

_**Did you like? It was really hard but I enjoyed it anyway. REVIEW!**_

_**;)**_


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you very, very much to Totes Inappropes for you're review. It really did make me smile, but thank you to everyone else who reviewed aswell!

_Dear Mya,_

_Everything you have advised me so far has turned out for the better. But I'm afraid that I'm going to be needing more help. I don't know what to do now. I mean, going out on one date doesn't make us a couple, I know that, but where do I stand. What do I mean to her now. Am I supposed to act normal around her, or more… lovey-dovey?_

_Confused._

Sat on her bed and in her uniform, Mara read the email that had arrived in her inbox mere minutes ago. And to be honest, she was just as confused as Jerome was. She pondered over it for a good 10 minutes before typing up her reply.

_Confused,_

_Your email got me thinking aswell. However, I have managed to kind of figure it out. Your girl would probably want you to act as you normally would, just a little more…personal around her. The two of you have gone on a date. That counts for something, right? Walk to school with her today, see where that gets you._

_Mya._

She was still unsure about it even while she was hitting the send button. But, there was no going back now. It was a fair question. Where _did_ they stand now. She had just broken up with Mick a few weeks ago. Liking Jerome, would that make her, in some ways, a slut?

No. She reassured herself, her and Mick weren't right together so that didn't exactly count. An it wasn't like she was madly in love with Jerome anyway.

As expected, there was a soft knock on Mara's door. Jerome.

Getting up to open it, she straightened out her uniform, hair and took a quick peek in the mirror at her teeth. Since when was Mara Jaffray self-conscious.

"Hey, Jerome." She smiled, looking up at him. He was dressed in correct uniform, and in perfect condition, as always. His hair was swept to the side, just as fluffy as always and his _ohsoperfect _blue eyesstared down at her.

"Morning," he smiled back and Mara could have sworn that her legs buckled a little, she gripped the side of the door for support. "I was wondering if-if you wanted to walk to school… with me?" he stared down at her, hopefully.

"Oh, um.. sure Jerome. I'd love to." She tried hard to hide her smirk as she went back into her room to get her bag.

**Line Break**

Mara and Jerome left early to school, the latter carrying both of their bags. Mara was definitely a feminist and didn't like it when men degraded women but he was being so sweet and since he had insisted..

They walked down the gravel path and past the forest entrance. Mara stopped, looking into the eerie place and a quick flash of something came to mind. It was as if she was running, running through the woods. But that was it. She dismissed it, both resumed walking.

"So, are you up for catching a movie later, after school?" she suggested. She didn't want him to feel like he was the only one that cared so she had decided to ask, but not as a date. "With Joy and Eddie aswell."

He looked down at her sideways, just shrugging his shoulders slightly . Not speaking. Mara ignored this and carried on talking to him.

"I was thinking Spiderman but whatever you wa-"

He cut her short, rudely. "Mara where were you last night?"

She was a bit taken aback, looking up to see that he was staring down at her again. "Wh-what do you mean? Why do you want to know?

"Just asking." He shrugged again.

Funny thing was, Mara didn't even know. Despite her going to bed at an early time and not having any trouble sleeping, she had woken up that morning, extremely tired and weary. She had also woken with an agonizing head-ache. So bad that she had taken two of Patricia's paracetemol tablets.

"Why?" Mara urged on. "What do you know?"

"Nothing, nothing."

It was silent from then all the way to school. Except this time, it wasn't comfortable, Mara felt like she had done something wrong. Had she?

**Line Break**

Science went by pretty quick, as did English and in no time at all, it was break. Mara was sat on a bench with Eddie, drinking a coffee. Joy had decided to join cheerleading- something to do with Ethan- and Jerome was no where to be seen.

"How're you doing on the Dear Mya stuff?" Eddie asked, nonchalantly.

"Shh!" Mara looked around to make sure that nobody was listening before turning back to Eddie, an angry look on her face. Well, as angry as Mara could get.

"You can't tell _anybody _about that, ok?"

"Alright, alright!" he held hi hands up, a sign of innocence. "I won't. I just want to know all the juicy stuff." He smirked.

"Well, I'm not telling you so dream on." Mara took a bite of her apple and got her laptop out of her bag.

"C'mon, Mars! " he poked her shoulder repeatedly. "You know you want to me."

It didn't take long for Mara to give in.

"You want to read one? Here." She handed him her laptop, a question ready on the screen.

It wasn't even ten seconds before his eyes widened and he quickly stuffed the laptop back into Mara's hands. She smirked and continued scrolling through the new emails. Apart from Jerome's, they were all kind of the same thing. Mara knew how to answer them all, they were relatively simple.

Suddenly, the notification beep sounded, a new email had come through, from Jerome.

"Hey Eddie," she turned to her friend next to her. "I need to go and find… Poppy. I'll see you in Art."

He smiled and turned back to his PSP. Mara sighed, relieved that he didn't question her and quickly left. She went round the back of the school, intending on going to the bench further out but was stopped. A hand covered her mouth from behind and dragged her back into the bush next to them. As hard as she tried to kick and protest, the person was just too strong. Eventually, she gave up and let herself be dragged away, hoping, praying, that she wasn't in danger.

**Okay, so I know this chapter is bad and incredibly short but, I ran out of inspiration. I didn't want to leave you all hanging so I wrote.. this. I will somehow write the next one because I kind of have an idea but once again, it's not very good. It'll be up soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I think some of you did miss a chapter because I stupidly uploaded chapter six as the same document as chapter five, but it's changed now. So if you feel a little lost, you should go back to that.**

**Enjoy, I've done this a bit differently, :)**

"Jerome, you're acting weird." Poppy tugged at his sleeve as they walked down the path, heading home.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He glanced down at her, but after seeing her pleading look, couldn't tell her to leave him alone. He'd had a bad day at school and couldn't really be bothered with anything at that moment. On top of all of that, Mara had completely vanished!

Eddie said that he was with her at break and she had said that she had to do something, but nobody had seen her since then. She hadn't turned up to any classes and wasn't there at lunch. Now, she wasn't there when they were walking home.

But what annoyed him the most, was that no one else really seemed to care.

Joy had asked a couple of people where she was but had just carried on like it was a normal day. And Eddie didn't seem to care at all.

"She'll turn up sometime," he had said nonchalantly.

Jerome however, had been too worried to even eat his lunch. He had been told off countless times for not concentrating and losing focus. Like he was now.

"Jerome!" his younger sister whined,

"Look, Poppy," he'd had enough. "I'm fine, now go back to you're house."

He turned and walked away but stopped when she called his name again.

"Well, can you give this to Mara?" she said, handing him a calculator. "I forgot to give it to her the other day."

Jerome tensed, but tried not to show it. "Give it to her yourself." He said not turning back.

**Line Break**

Sitting on his bed, Jerome flicked through his Maths book. He had started his homework an hour ago and only had achieved three questions. How could he be expected to concentrate when Mara was still missing? No news at all.

Giving up, Jerome lay back on the bed, his thoughts clouded with possibilities of Mara's whereabouts.

The main one, the one he was afraid of most, but also the most likely, was Rufus.

He had seen her that night, had looked straight at her. But, why would he want her? It didn't take him long to figure that out. After all, he was a master in the arts of

Black mail.

Rufus was probably using her to get to him. He was smart like that, cunning and manipulative. Until, Jerome gave him what he wanted, he would not give her back. And what Rufus wanted, was Nina.

He had been ordered to 'kidnap' Nina and bring her to him. God knows why he wanted her, but Jerome refused to do it. Nina wasn't exactly his friend but he couldn't give her up like that. It wasn't right.

But now, he had to choose between Mara's life, and Nina's. If it wasn't a life or death situation, he would have chose Mara in a heartbeat but…

He absolutely needed Mara back, but he didn't want to be the cause of someone's death. Especially someone in his house.

_You're only happy when I'm wasted_

His ring tone played out from in his pocket. He grabbed out his phone, glad for a distraction. It was Alfie.

"Hey, Jerome, buddy."

"What do you want?" Jerome rolled his eyes. He was using that tone of voice that he only used when he wanted something.

"Can you bring me my black blazer?" he pleaded.

"Why?" he said suspiciously, dragging out the word.

"Because I'm on a date with Amber and she doesn't like my baseball jacket.."

"What? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You're gonna change jackets just because your date didn't like it?"

"Please." He could just imagine Alfie's eyes widening at this point, trying to win him over.

"Fine, where are you?" he sighed.

"Amber's room. Ok, thanks bye." He said quickly and hung up. Jerome stared at his phone. Alfie really was weird sometimes. Actually, all the time.

He rolled off of his bed and over to the closet. Grabbing the blazer, he made his way out.

Predictably, only Joy and Eddie were in the kitchen. But they weren't exactly together. Joy was lingering around the fridge, doing nothing at all and Eddie was sitting at the table, shovelling down spaghetti and meatballs. They would both sneak glances at each other one in a while.

Jerome could sense a lot of tension between the two. He walked past, deciding that he would come to sit with them on his way down, and went up the stairs.

Knocking on Amber's door, he could smell something sickly sweet escaping the room. He scrunched up his nose and coughed slightly. It smelt like joss sticks. He couldn't stand it.

Alfie opened the door slightly, grabbed the jacket and slammed it shut again, muttering a quick thanks to his friend.

Once again, Jerome rolled his eyes, amazed at how strange the boy could be, and trudged back downstairs.

"Hey Jerome." Joy smiled when he entered the room. He lifted his hand slightly, as a slight wave and sat down opposite Eddie.

"Where's Mara?" he asked calmly. Eddie looked up from his plate, looking guilty.

"I really don't know." He shrugged. He turned to Joy. She had the same response.

Jerome sighed deeply, and sunk down into his chair.

"She can't have just… evaporated!"

Joy sighed, also taking a seat. "It's not like Mara to just not show up to classes. No matter what situation she was in."

Eddie nodded in agreement. "It _must _be something important."

Just then, Jerome's phone rang again. He inhaled, frustrated. But when he brought it out from his pocket, he was surprised to see that it was Mara.

"I-it's Mara." He said staring at the screen.

"Well answer it!" Joy pushed his hand.

"Hello," he said, hesitantly.

"Jerome? H-hey," her voice sounded strained.

"Mara, where are you?"

"At home. Family stuff, I'm f-fine."

"Well, you don't sound fine." He pushed, determined to get to the bottom of things.

"Honestly, I'm fine. Don't worry about m-"

The line went dead. She's hung up.

**Confused? Yeah, so am I. But don't worry, I'll get to Mara soon!**

**Also, I want to know how old you think I am. Judging by my writing. It's not really important but I'd like to know. If you could just leave a number in a review, that would be great.**

**Review, please :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, dear viewers! This chapter goes ou to Bob (justkeeptyping) thank you very, very, very much for all your support. Woo loves you!**

**Anyway, Enjoy! :)**

All three teens stared at the phone in Jerome's hand, all too shocked to say anything. Jerome's eyes darted between Eddie, then Joy, and then back to the phone. It took a few seconds but they eventually unfroze and then it really began to sink in.

"What the hell is going on?" Joy half screeched. But they had to be quiet, SIBUNA were upstairs. Jerome didn't answer, even though he knew full well what was going on.

Banging loudly on the table, he got up and paced the small kitchen. Joy and Eddie jumped due to the loud noise, but didn't want to disturb Jerome.

"Gah!" he clenched his fists, leaning on the table.

This was all his fault. Mara was being held hostage somewhere because of _his _faults. His own stupid, silly little mistakes. Well, they weren't little at all. They were dealing with a psychopath and even _that _was an understatement. He ran his hands down his face and turned to face the Joy and Eddie.

To be quite honest, Jerome would've preferred to do this alone but he felt like he wasn't capable of something as big as this. And after all, they did like Mara too. Just maybe not as much as he did.

"Ok, there's a lot to tell, but I am not telling you anything if you're not prepared to help." He warned.

Both nodded, enthusiastically.

"It may put you're life in danger."

Joy's eyes widened, in realization. She looked queasy but she nodded nonetheless.

Eddie looked horrified. Being the new kid, he had absolutely no idea about Sibuna or anything like that, along with Mara and Mick.

"How would it pu-"

"Yes," Jerome cut him off. "Or no?"

He glanced at Joy, then back at Jerome and gave a hesitant nod. Jerome sighed and sat opposite them, taking a deep breath before filling them in. On everything.

"Nina and all of them have a very big part in this," he said, after telling them about Rufus. "He wants some… cup thing and he will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing to get it. But, apparently they have it. I have no idea what they are doing with it or what he wants it for. Something about eternal life. Guys a loon."

Joy nodded sharply, already aware of half of this. She _had _been kidnapped aswell before. But Eddie was getting more pale by the second.

"How are we supposed to get Mara back, then?" he furrowed his eyebrows. "If he's half as crazy as you say he is, sounds to me that we'd be lucky to even get her body back after he's done with her.

"Eddie!" Joy scolded him. "Don't say that!" She turned back to Jerome. "Why does he even want Mara? She doesn't even know what SIBUNA is."

Jerome sighed again, leaning down onto his hands. "That is kind of my fault. He wanted Nina, you see. But I couldn't just give her up like that. I didn't know he'd take Mara!"

She slumped back into her seat and let out an exasperated sigh. Eddie mimicked her actions.

"Ok, so how are we gonna do this?"

**Line Break**

"So, you know what to do, right?" Jerome asked Joy as they, plus Eddie, stood outside the dining room. She nodded, briskly, determined to get this right. "And you?" He turned to Eddie.

He didn't speak, just saluted Jerome dramatically and marched his way to his room.

Rolling their eyes, they entered the room, trying to look as normal as possible. But apparently, they weren't the only ones hiding something. For, Nina, Fabian, Amber, Alfie and Patricia looked exceptionally twitchy. Could it be that they knew?

"Good morning my lovelies!" Trudy carried in a plate of breakfast foods, in a very cheery mood. That makes one.

Only Alfie reached for the food, obviously, while everyone else seemed to be glued to their seats. As soon as Trudy left, Jerome decided to break the ice.

Thinking about it over night, he had begun to believe that this was all Nina's fault. If it wasn't for her, Rufus wouldn't have even come into contact with Patricia, Jerome. And Mara.

"Why so jumpy?" he leant back into his seat, directing his question at Nina. They all looked up from their laps and eyed him, suspiciously.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She glanced at Amber, who was pretending to be busy with her uniform.

"I think you do." He smirked, but before he could push further, Joy's phone rang.

"Hello. Yeah, I am. What?" her expression changed quickly. "Ok, I'll be there in a little while." She hung up and looked up at Jerome.

"My aunt's sick, I need to go to the hospital." She said, making sure that everybody had heard.

"Are you not coming to school, then?"

"No, I might not come back after either, but I'll call later. Tell eddie, Ok?" she hugged him lightly and left.

He tuned back to see everyone else and wasn't surprised to see that everybody was looking at him. He saw the jealousy in Fabians' eyes and the confusion in Alfie's.

"Since when were you and Joy so close?" Alfie asked.

"Since when did you need to know who my friends were?" he glared at the boy and got up to leave.

"Jerome…"

He didn't bother looking back since he knew that it was Alfie speaking. "What?" He said it harshly.

However, Alfie didn't answer, didn't know what to say.

"That's what I thought." And he left, leaving everyone speechless.

**So, some of you're guesses were kind of close but I still would like some more. So, if you haven't already, could you please leave how old you think I am in a review? I'll tell you all in a later chapter!**

**Review ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

You'd expect Jerome to feel sorry for Alfie, wouldn't you? Four years of friendship has to mean to something. But, he didn't feel sorry for him, not one bit. Every ounce of respect that he had ever had for Alfie, disappeared when he ditched him for the Scooby Gang. Jerome thought that his friend was smarter than that, that he wouldn't get sucked in. But no, apparently, he was wrong. Jerome didn't care anymore. He could be absolutely heartless if he really wanted to.

He stood and waited outside the door. Eventually, Eddie joined him and they walked up the path. But, if you thought that they were headed to school, you'd be very much mistaken. They took a left into the woods, planning to meet Joy there.

It was all a part of the plan.

"Did they believe it?" Eddie asked.

"Of course," Jerome smirked. He had outsmarted them, he liked that.

"Do you think that we're going to get caught?" Eddie said after a while. "By this Rufus guy?"

"You can turn back Eddie," Jerome reassured him. "No one is forcing you to do this."

Eddie sighed. "I want to do this. For Mara."

"For Mara"

They eventually found Joy, sitting against a tree. Her eyed brightened when she saw them.

"Finally, I don't like this place." she said as she got up, brushing the leaves off of her skirt.

"Aw, was Joy afraid?" Jerome mocked but stopped when she shot him daggers.

"Where are we off to then?" she asked.

"Well, last time, I followed him to this old barn. There's a chance that he's keeping Mara there."

They took a turn, into the main street. "And what if he's not?" Eddie kicked the stones. "What else have we got to go by."

"Nothing." he admitted. "But I'm 90% sure that he's there."

"Let's hope so."

**Line Break**

It was only a ten minute walk until they reached the barn but it felt a lot longer. To all of them. It was ten minutes of awkward silence. They really didn't know what to say. All of them knew the danger of their actions but were willing to do this for their friend. But in Jerome's case, he was doing this for the girl he loved.

"What do we do know?" Joy asked in a whisper as they ducked behind some bushes.

"We need to wait and see if anyone comes in or out." His eyes darted around the area. "Just stay hidden."

"But… why can't we just bust into their?" Eddie whispered. "I mean, there's no car or anything."

Jerome though for a moment. Was it worth the risk? Granted, Rufus usually had a black jeep but anything could happen, they had to be careful.

"Ok, fine." He decided. "But someone needs to stay here, as a lookout."

"I will." Joy volunteered. "Just… be careful, alright."

Jerome and Eddie made their way, slowly, to the red door. They had to be absolutely silent. If Rufus _was _in there, he would definitely hear them.

Jerome crouched down, once at the door, since there was a little hole at the bottom. He peeked through, but it was too small to see anything. They would have to go inside. As he got up, Eddie pushed the door open slightly. Seeing nothing, they stepped inside.

It was a dusty place, lots of storage and things that no one would really need. A few footsteps in, Eddie tapped Jerome on the shoulder, gesturing next to them. Following his hand, he looked to the floor where an old tray lay. It was empty, except for some stale bread and an apple core. A small glass cup was next to it, drained of the water, which evidently had filled it before.

Jerome's eyes widened in shock. He _had _been right, Mara had probably been fed that earlier. They carried on, turning the corner into the bigger area.

But, unfortunately, that was as far as they could get. Jerome spotted a man, obviously Rufus, turned around, just a few feet away from them.

He pushed Eddie back around the corner, holding him up against the wall and putting a finger to his lips. He mouthed the words 'He's here' and Eddie immediately paled. Signaling for Eddie to stay there, he poked his head back around the corner.

Rufus was looking through some old boxes, making small sounds of frustration every now and then. Jerome's eyes traveled further down until he found what he was looking for. Mara lay on the floor, a quilted blanket on top of her. He sucked in his breath and held it, scared he was going to be heard. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her. She looked so different. Her usually glowing face, was now sunken and pale.

He moved back, telling Eddie hat Mara was there. As expected, his eyes widened and he moved forward, wanting to see her. But Jerome pushed him back, once again putting a finger to his lips.

Poking his head round again, he was surprised when he couldn't see Rufus anymore. He was about to go back to Eddie when he felt something very hard come into contact with his head. The last thing he saw, Rufus' smirk and his glare, looming over him.

**I know the chapters are a bit short lately, but I'm just trying to get them up quicker. Hope you enjoyed and, please, REVIEW! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for all the reviews, they really make me happy. :) And, I forgot to tell you how old I am. I'm 13..**

**Also, someone asked what time setting this is. I guess it's during season one because I'm using the Cup of Ankh mystery but Mick is still in Australia, and Eddie is here. So, it's a bit muddled up.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

Opening his eyes, Jerome held a hand to the throbbing at the back of his head. The sharp pain felt even worse when he lifted his head. He looked around and noticed that he was in his room.

_What?_

The last thin he remembered was hunting Rufus down. How on earth did he get back to Anubis? He sat up in bed but jumped back a little when he saw Joy sitting on Alfie's bed, watching him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, getting up.

"How did I get here?" he asked, not bothering to answer her question. She sighed, reluctant to give him any information.

"Not now, Jerome. It'll just make you're head worse and-"

"How?" he cut her off, his voice more stern this time. Her brown eyes darted to the door, as if she was thinking about making a quick getaway. But, she eventually sat back down on Alfie's bed and spilled.

"After… after Rufus hit you, he grabbed Eddie and-and he threw him to Mara. I was watching from the door." Her voice was hoarse, but she carried on. " His car was out back and he dragged Eddie into the back of it. Mara woke up and tried to fight him off but he threw her in aswell. I tried to stop him, I really did, but he was fast. He saw me… he saw me, but he didn't take me and I don't know why." She was tearing up at this point. "He drove off, I tried to wake you up but you were knocked out, so I dragged you halfway. But, then I called Alfie to help."

Jerome's eyes glassed over. He was confused, upset, but most of all… he was angry with himself. Because, if he had been more careful, none of this would have happened.

He turned back to Joy, who was now wiping away some tears.

"I didn't know who to call." She blubbered. "Alfie was being weird and he left as soon as he put you down."

"Did you tell him anything?"

"N-no. I just said that you hit you're head on a branch when we were walking back."

He sighed, heavily and ran his hands down his face. Rufus was being very, very clever. But he could be smarter. He'd taken Mara, now Eddie. Joy was going to be next, he knew that but Jerome was going to beat him at his own game.

"Listen," he spoke up after ages. "We can't tell anyone about this, ok?"

Joy nodded, frantically.

"Just go about like everything's normal. Eddie's gone to visit home and Mara's having family troubles. Rufus isn't finished, you know that right?"

"Yeah, yes." Joy paused. "Is he coming for me?" She whispered.

"I'm afraid so." Jerome didn't mean to frighten her, he was just making sure that she was ready for what was to come. "He's taking you all one by one. And you're last. But, I reckon we can outsmart him. I just need some time to think."

Joy nodded again, getting up to leave.

"Joy," she turned back around. "Thanks."

She managed a half smile before turning to leave again.

**Line Break**

Breakfast that morning was very strange. Nina and Amber were being weird happy, Fabian was doing his homework late, like a normal teenager, and Patricia and Alfie were having a sword fight with their spoons.

Jerome and Joy sat at the end of the table, watching on and completely creeped out. What had happened to the usual tension and awkwardness?

Jerome was way too queasy to eat anything and Joy hadn't touched anything on her plate so he suggested that they go.

"Where're you going so early?" Amber asked the two as they got up to leave.

"Uh, to school." Jerome scoffed. They weren't going to school, but he was a professional liar.

Alfie gave them a shifty look, as did the rest of them, but Jerome just glared back at them.

It was quite ironic, really. _They _had always been the ones snooping around, lying to their housemates. Now they were the ones being lied to. This was how they had acted for the past several months, they were getting it thrown right back in their faces.

"Joy," Patricia turned to her _best friend._ "What's wrong? You seem a little off."

Jerome could see joy's fists clench and she turned around to face Patricia.

"You'd know if you hadn't ditched me. So much for best friends." She seethed. "And what about Mara? She's been gone for two days and you haven't even asked. Oh, and what about you're boyfriend?"

They all looked at the two empty seats that Mara and Eddie usually occupied. Finally realizing that they were gone.

Jerome scoffed again, leading Joy out of the door, leaving Patricia very much shocked and extremely guilty.

**Line Break**

"Jerome, what are we supposed to do?" Joy asked urgently, once outside. "We don't know when he's going to come for me or what he's going to do. We don't even know if he's still at that warehouse!"

"Calm down," he shushed her. "We'll find him. And this'll all be over before he gets to you, anyway."

Joy was tearing up again, a few drops threatening to drop from her eyelids. "Ok." She whispered, scared to speak properly in case of breaking down.

"Joy, I-I promise it'll be over soon, alright." He said putting a hand on her shoulder and awkwardly patting it. Jerome was hopeless at comforting girls and had no idea what to do.

Joy's eyes wandered to his hand and she laughed in spite of herself. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Hey," he laughed. "Give me a break. Saving your life here!"

**Like? Love? Review, please :)**


	12. Chapter 12

"Who was that?" Jerome asked, approaching Joy's locker. He had just come out from Psychology and Joy, music. They had decided to come to school after achieving nothing at the warehouse that morning.

Joy didn't answer. She was too busy staring at the boy that Jerome was referring to. A lanky, pale and dark haired boy standing a few feet away who was sneaking glances at the two, looking very jealous.

"Joy!" he slammed her locker and she jumped, looking angrily at him.

"What?" she huffed.

"I said, who's that guy?" They began to walk to their next class which they had together.

"Ethan." She giggled. "He's cute, isn't he?"

Jerome stopped in his tracks, looking at her, side-on.

"Uh… you're asking _me _if he's cute?"

She rolled her eyes and tugged on his arm, telling him to keep on walking. "He is!"

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not Mara."

Joy stiffened at her name. Despite her love-struck behaviour, she was still terrified for her friends. She hadn't forgotten, as much as she tried.

Jerome also realised what he said, just a little later. The pair of them were trying their best. Rufus hadn't been outside, inside, or behind the warehouse when they went to check, but they weren't giving up hope. Their next move was to stake out the place after school. They really didn't have any other leads.

And there was still the anticipation on Joy's behalf. She could be taken at any minute. Doing her best to hide it still wasn't enough. Smiling, laughing, talking, you could still see the worry in her brown eyes. She was putting her whole life in the hands of Jerome, it took an enormous amount of trust.

Jerome shook his head, deciding against bringing up the subject and they carried on down the corridor in silence.

"Jerome, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Poppy jumped in front of them, looking at her brother with wide eyes. She turned to Joy and gave her a small, hesitant smile. "Where's Mara?" she asked looking back at her brother.

"At home." He said with ease. "No, what did you want?" he said, frustrated.

"She's not at home." Her eyebrows furrowed. "I saw her yesterday…"

His eyes widened only a fraction. Joy's widened a lot.

"She gave me this." Poppy continued, pulling an envelope out of her side bag. "And told me, and I quote, not to open it under any circumstance and to get it to you as soon as possible."

Jerome snatched it from her hands and stuffed it into his own bag.

Poppy looked at him weird but carried on, nonetheless. "Then, she ran away." It was all very confusing but I did see a man waiting for her."

Joy squeaked but covered her mouth after letting it out.

"I… assumed it was her father." She said, eyeing Joy, suspiciously.

Jerome cleared his throat aggressively. "Thanks Poppy," he ruffled her hair and led Joy in the other direction.

**Line Break**

Sitting in class, Jerome was slowly going crazy. He was dying to know what was in the envelope but they had both decided to wait until after school to open it. Joy was sitting behind him and he could feel her agitation to. She was tapping her pencil on the desk repeatedly but Jerome didn't do anything about it. It was annoying him to no end but he also knew that she was in the same situation as him.

The teacher drabbled on about something but Jerome didn't have the patience to even pretend to listen. His gaze wandered to Fabian, sitting a little to the left of him. He was obviously deep in thought, but he couldn't tell whether it was about the work, or something else.

Then, his eyes wandered to a girl in his class. He couldn't even remember her name but even so, he envied her. She didn't have a care in the world, maybe except for the average teenage worries, nothing life threatening.

He sighed and turned back to the teacher, but still, his mind refused to listen. To be quite frank, he had more pressing matters at hand.

Time dragged on, but eventually, the bell rang and the students all filed out. Jerome and Joy were the quickest out of there and would have been home in five minutes had they not been stopped by Nina.

Nina, Amber and Patricia blocked the doorway, preventing them from leaving school.

"Move out of the way." Joy warned with steely eyes.

"Joy," Patricia pleaded. "What's going on?"

"I-"

"None of you're business." Jerome cut in. "Now, let us through." He said calmly.

"Jerome, we know that something's going on." Nina cleared her throat. "We want to help."

"No you don't." Joy scoffed. "Why would you want to help us? What have you done for us since you came to this school?"

"She's right." Amber glared at Joy. "We don't want to help you." She nodded.

"Amber, stop it!" Patricia scolded.

"I just want to know where Mara is?" Amber ignored her comment.

"If you really cared about Mara," Jerome stepped forward. "You would've noticed she was gone before Joy told you."

Amber faltered but held her ground, flicking her long blonde hair to the side.

"We have a right to know," she stuck her chin up. "She's _our _friend too."

Jerome laughed, icily. "I actually have nothing to say."

"What, you think that we don't care about Mara and Eddie? Is that it?"

"Yes, actually." Joy stepped in line with Jerome. "I don't think you care about them." She said boldly.

Jerome glanced at her and could see that she was close to tears. "Come on," he steered her around them.

**Line Break**

They sat in Jerome's room, Joy sitting on the floor next to his bed and the envelope in her hands.

"Just open it." Jerome encouraged.

"I'm scared," she whimpered. "You do it." She handed it to him and covered her face with her hands.

Taking a deep breath, he ripped along the top and a small paper fell out. He unfolded it and read:

_**Give me the girl and you're friends can go.**_

_**You have until midnight tomorrow.**_

_**P.S Keep a close eye on Joy.**_

_Sorry if that note isn't any good. I wouldn't have any experience writing threatening notes, since, you know, I'm not a psychotic manic and all.._

_Until next chapter, bye :) _


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks for the nice reviews, enjoy! Oh, and some of you were confused about the letter, about who 'the girl' was. Sorry about not making it clear but it was Nina.**

Jerome froze. Staring at the black slanted words, his mind went blank. He was faintly aware of Joy's squeak and her heavy breathing. But other that that, he couldn't think of anything to say.

He dropped the letter and got up off of his bed, pacing the whole length of the room. Joy was crying silent tears by now but Jerome didn't have the heart to comfort her. He cried out in frustration and hit both of his fists on the dresser, causing Joy to jump up.

"J-Jerome?" she whispered, shiny eyes wide and watching his every move.

He sat back down on the bed, holding his head in his hands.

"We're going to have to ask them for help." He sighed.

"But… he wants to take Nina. Why would she give herself up?"

"I really don't know." He admitted. "They'll figure something out."

She nodded silently and left. Jerome sighed and laid back down, not having the energy to do anything.

**Line Break**

"Why are you suddenly coming to us for help?" Amber asked, still glaring at Joy like she had been from the moment she came into the room.

Nina, Amber, Fabian, Alfie and Patricia were sat in the girls' room, while Jerome and Joy hovered by the door.

"Oh, believe me," Joy sneered. "We wouldn't be coming to you if it wasn't absolutely critical."

"And it _is._" Jerome continued.

Nina considered it for a moment. "What do we even have to do?" she asked.

Jerome glanced at Joy, not wanting to be the one to tell her but, obviously, Joy didn't either, He stayed quiet for a moment before she elbowed him lightly in the stomach, urging him on.

"Rufus wants _you,_ I don't know why but he's not going to stop." He sighed, noticing how Nina had paled. "He… he said that he'd give Mara and Eddie back if we brought you to him."

"You're asking Nina to just hand herself over?" Alfie furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, you wouldn't have to." Joy said. "Just come with us, as if you were going to,"

"And we take Mara and Eddie and make a run for it." Jerome finished. "I know it's a lot to ask for, but he's out to kill, you know that. Joy's next."

"Ok, I'll do it." Nina nodded, tightly. But this sparked a lot of protests.

"Nina!" Fabian shook her arm. "You're risking your life."

"What have they ever done for you?" Amber huffed. "It _is _a lot to ask for."

Alfie stuttered like he wanted to say something but stopped himself whilst Patricia fiddled with her hands looking like she was in deep thought.

"Amber, I thought you and Mara were close." Nina raised an eyebrow. "You want her to be stuck with Rufus?"

Amber's shoulders dropped as she realised how selfish she was being. Her gaze dropped to the purple carpet and she played with the ends of her hair. Fabian also looked uncomfortable. His gaze flickered between Joy and Nina.

She turned to Jerome and Joy, nodding in conformation. "I'll do it."

**Line Break**

Even though Nina had agreed to help them, both groups still didn't bother interacting at school. It didn't really change anything. Joy and Jerome walked to school in silence, both slowly going crazy in their minds. Jerome couldn't stop thinking about how risky everything was. One slip up, and they could put _three _lives in danger. And, maybe, even his own. He had to keep a very close watch on Joy all day, aswell. He couldn't let her go missing too. Mara and Eddie was already too much to handle.

They made the whole way to school without a single word from either of them. It wasn't until they had made it into their classroom that Joy spoke up.

"Jerome, I was just wondering," she said as they sat down. "If Rufus gave that letter to Mara, to give to Poppy, to give to you, then he must know that Poppy is relatively close to you."

Jerome paled. He hadn't though of that before.

"What if… what if he…" she couldn't go on. Jerome got up, abruptly, and ran out of the room, Joy chasing after him. He ran, lightning speed, down the corridor, not even knowing where he was going.

"He can't." he chanted to himself. "He can't have taken Poppy."

**Review? Also, Happy Birthday to Totes Inapropes, have a great day! *Virtual double Decker* ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

**I realized today, I have gone really off topic.. I'll bring the 'Dear Mya' stuff back in a couple of chapters. Enjoy!**

His heart was beating at an un-natural pace, his hands were shaking uncontrollably and tiny bead of sweat were forming on his eyebrows. Jerome fell back onto the lockers and slid down, calming down a little. Just now, he had run from one side of the school to the other, in fear of his dear little sister. He'd burst in to her classroom, making a complete fool of himself, since she was sitting there, doing her work like a normal child. Apologizing to the shocked teacher and backed out.

"Jerome," Joy said, breathlessly, running around the corner and skidding to a halt.

"He didn't take her." He said in a monotone. "She's… fine."

Joy sighed of relief and clutched her chest, still breathing heavily. She sat down next to him and, to Jerome's surprise, began crying. Jerome's eyes widened as her sobbing turned into helpless gasps.

"Joy?" he asked, trying to catch her eyes but she bought her knees up and buried her face in them. "Joy, I said that she was all right. Why are you… why are you crying?"

It was a while before her tears stilled and her breathing became normal again.

"Poppy might be fine, but everything else isn't." she looked up, her eyes red and puffy.

"Yeah, but it will be." He tried to comfort her.

"You don't know that, Jerome." She sobbed. "_How _do you know that? What if… what if we never get them back. Anything could happen."

He sighed, understanding where she was coming from. "Whatever happens, I promise… I promise that everything will be fine, un the end."

It was a big promise. But, Joy didn't want to think about that. She sniffed, nodded and leaned down so that her head was on Jerome's shoulder.

**Line Break**

The Sibuna gang were sat on the floor in Nina and Amber's room, Jerome and Joy sitting up on the bed. They were discussing their plan, since, well they didn't really have one.

"Rufus has seen every one of us," Alfie pointed out. "We can't exactly just walk in."

"We weren't going to barge in, anyway." Patricia said. "That'd be stupid."

"We _could _use disguises." Amber suggested before Alfie and Patricia could start fighting.

"Nah," Jerome waved it off. "He's not that dumb."

They sat in silence for a while, each of them debating in their heads.

"Ooh! What if we-"

"If it involves Ninja costumes," Nina cut Alfie off. "Don't even bother."

He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Jerome suppressed a laugh. Not because he thought that it was funny, but because he knew Alfie well enough to know that he was going to say that.

"I have an idea." Amber said after a long while. Everyone turned to her. "If we let Joy be taken-"

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"Amber! What are you talking about?" Fabian stared at her, wide eyed.

"Really?" Joy said. "You hate me _that _much?" She got up and left the room before anyone could say anything more.

"What's wrong with you. Seriously?" Jerome glared.

"You didn't let me finish!" she defended herself. "If we let Rufus take her, we could follow and see where he takes her. Chances are, Mara and Eddie would be there too." She shrugged.

Silence fell upon the room. Jerome was incredibly conflicted. It wasn't a terrible plan, but he couldn't let Joy go like that. What would she think?

"And, how would we be sure that he'd take her?" Patricia asked. "Rufus is… unpredictable."

"Just make her wander around the woods in the evening. He's bound to come." Amber said.

"Well… how are we supposed to follow them without Rufus seeing us?"

"Camera, maybe." She shrugged again. "Or someone could be hidden in the tree's."

"I don't know," Nina debated. "It sounds too risky."

"Very risky." Jerome corrected her, before remembering that he was supposed to go after Joy.

He excused himself and went, first, into her room. She wasn't there. He carried on down the stairs, but, strangely, she wasn't there either. But then, Jerome noticed that her red coat was gone. She must've gone for a walk.

He grabbed his own since it _was _chilly outside, and set off down the path. Looking all around, he breathed out deeply when he saw her wandering aimlessly near the clearing.

_Just make her wander around the woods in the evening. He's bound to come._

He remembered what Amber had said and was worrying that her plan was already in action, without any of them agreeing to anything. Without Joy even knowing about it.

And suddenly, his thought came to life. He saw a hooded figure jump out of the trees. He heard Joy scream before Rufus covered her mouth and dragged her away.

Jerome ran.

**Hehehe :) I always end up doing a cliff-hanger without even meaning to. I don't know, it seemed like a good place to end it..**

**This _might _be my last update for a while since I start school again in two days. But don't worry, I'll probably end up ditching my homework and writing a sneaky chapter :) REVIEW! **


	15. Chapter 15

**So, I went back to school the other day, I've been a bit pre-occupied. Year nine isn't as easy as I thought it would be.. But, since it's the weekend, here you go!**

**(stuckbeingrachel, I _did _tell you my age, like, 3 chapters ago! :D I'm 13, to save you the time of going back :)**

He ran and he ran, never looking back. Too afraid to even blink in case the van disappeared from sight. His heart wa beating, double time but he couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop.

He was going to get Mara and Eddie back _and_ prevent Joy from any harm. He gasped for breath and increased his speed, if that was even possible.

The black van drove wildly, did Rufus even _have _a license. Rufus eventually turned the corner and only then did Jerome realize where they were. A little village, the population mainly being elderly people. He stopped, ducking in a garden's hedge. Trying to hold back his coughs and splutters, he watched Rufus jump out of the front seat and walk calmly over to the door on the other side. Slowly, Joy stepped out, arms by her side and fingers visibly trembling. They disappeared into one of the little houses.

He furrowed his eyebrows. All this time, they were staking out the barn, but he'd been… in a house. A little country house.

He walked up the path, peeping hesitantly through the window. Not seeing anything but an empty, dusty living room, Jerome continued around the house, to the back.

He came to a wooden fence, short enough for him to climb over. Once in the back garden, he discovered a slide-out glass door and a small window. He crept over, worried that they were in the room that the door was revealing. Popping his head round, he saw a quick glance of Rufus leading Joy up a set of stairs. He debated to himself for a while before finally sliding the door open and tip-toeing inside. He shuffled over to the stairs, not daring to even breath out.

Going slowly up the wooden stairs, he looked around. The house was shabby, dusty and didn't really have a homely feel to it. The little furniture that was in there was wooden, broken and turned over. It didn't look lived-in at all.

Jerome narrowed his eyes and looked through the banister, holding on to the badly-painted brown bars.

"_Don't struggle!" _He heard Rufus yell. It sounded like it was coming from the room at the bottom of the corridor.

'Should I risk it?' he thought to himself. But it was too late to think it over. Rufus' footsteps could be heard ascending from the far room. Jerome's head whipped down the stairs and back up again as he decided on what to do.

"My, my" Rufus' voice was right in front of him. "Long time, no see, Jerome."

He looked up, painfully slow.

Rufus stood there, hands resting on his waist, a sinister smile on his face. Jerome tried to swallow but his throat had become very dry. His eyes flickered down the stairs, as if he were planning to make a run for it.

But, Rufus was one step ahead of him. He ran around the banister, grabbing at Jerome's arm and dragging him up the remaining stairs. As hard as he tried to get away, Rufus was alarmingly strong.

He led him to the room that he had just seen Joy be thrown into.

"No funny business." He glared before pushing him roughly through the door and slamming it.

It was dingy room, dark and cold. Jerome scanned the whole room until finally, in the corner, he saw Joy, Eddie and Mara huddled up.

Without a second thought, he hurried over to them. Joy looked up, relieved to see him but Mara and Eddie seemed to be passed out.

'Or asleep.' He hoped.

"Jerome," Joy whispered. "How did… how did you get here? Did Rufus get you too?"

"I-I saw you too and I followed." He said, his voice hoarse.

"Well, how are we going to get out? If you're here too?" she stammered, he words laced with worry.

"Someone will find us." He said, hopefully. "Eventually.."

He looked down at Mara and Eddie. Both of them were far skinnier than when he had last seen them and, he noticed, their eyes had dark circled around them. They were laying on the floor, their arms splayed out and their faces drained of colour.

Reaching out to touch Mara's pale face, he was shocked at how cold her skin was. Joy, holding Eddie's hand, noticed the same thing.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" Joy's eyes shone, tears not quite ready to fall.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Hopefully, the rest of them would've figured it out by now."

Joy pondered for a while, before gasping slightly and reaching into the inside of her coat, hurriedly.

"Wh-" he watched her, wondering what she was doing. She pulled out her phone, straight away unlocking it and scrolling through the contacts.

Jerome whispered a 'Yes!' under his breath as he urged her to work faster.

Finally, she settled on calling Alfie, since he was one of the first one's there and dialled.

It rang once… twice… three times before he picked it up.

"Alfie!" she said, urgently, before he could say anything. "You have to come get us, Rufus took us to…" she paused.

"Jerome, did you see the address on your way in?" she asked.

He scrunched up his face, thinking hard. "No… no, I didn't. But, tell them it's the village behind the park. I think they'll know."

She filled Alfie in, describing what the front of the house looked liked before hanging up.

He let out a sigh, sitting down and leaning against the hard wall.

"What now?" Joy asked.

"Now, we can only wait."

**This chapter was fun to write! Maybe it's just because I haven't been able to write for a couple of days..**

**Anyway, it would mean a lot to me if you read my other story, which I've just started. It's not Jara centric but I thought I'd try something new. It's called 'The Living Dead'. I'm only two chapters in but it's in progress. Thanks!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A lot of you said that Rufus was kinda dumb not to check for their phones, and I really didn't realise until you did. So.. yeah. He's stupid like that.**

**Stuckbeingrachel-: I'm not, don't worry. I like Peddie so I'll keep it like that :)**

**J**erome and Joy sat in the dingy room for at least half an hour before anything happened. Footsteps were heard coming up the stairs and Jerome's ears perked up.

Mara and Eddie were still asleep but Jerome knew that they were… conscious.

Pressing a finger to his lips, he stood. Tip-toeing over to the door, he listened closely for any signs of life. But before he could press his ear against it, the door violently flung open. Jerome jumped back, but was relieved to find that it was Alfie.

"Jeez Alfie." He breathed heavily. "You scared me."

"Well, I've come to save you, so I think that can be excused." Alfie said, looking over at Joy, Mara and Eddie. They both went over to the damp corner, Alfie kneeled down and took a closer look at them.

"Man, he's a monster." He whispered. "Hey, where is Rufus? I literally just walked in. He's not in the house."

Jerome was confused. What kind of criminal leaves his hostages in a house alone?

"I don't know," he shrugged. "Let's get out of here before he comes back."

Alfie nodded in agreement and with the help of Joy, they got Mara and Eddie down the stairs.

"Did the others come with you?" Joy asked once they were outside.

He shook his head. "No, I didn't tell them. You called me and I ran out the house. There was no time."

They were walking down the pathway, Jerome carrying Mara over his shoulder and Alfie and Joy supporting Eddie.

"Let's just get away from here, around the corner, then we'll call them." Alfie suggested.

"I can't carry him anymore." Joy complained, struggling under the weight.

"Just a little further." Jerome said, hoping that they'd get away clear.

They made it out of the house Ok, but they still had to get around the corner. After a few yards, Eddie began to stir. Joy gasped and everyone's eyes turned to him.

His eyes shot open and flitted around. Alfie and Joy let released his arms and watched with baited breath.

Seeing where he was and still a little groggy, Eddie rubbed his eyes and took in his surroundings. "How did you get us out?" he asked, his voice hoarse and weak.

"It was Alfie." Joy said softly.

He nodded and turned to Alfie, "Thanks." He whispered.

"No problem, buddy." Alfie smiled.

"We should get going." Jerome said. "Don't want to risk anything."

They all nodded and carried on down the road. Successfully making it away, they called Amber and the rest of the gang were soon on their way. Mara still hadn't woken up but Jerome didn't mind. He was just happy to have her in his arms. Knowing that she was safe once again.

"Alfie," Amber called out in the dark. "Where are you?"

"We're here, Amber."

"Where's 'here'?" Amber said, obviously confused and scared.

"They're over there, Amber." Another voice was heard, Nina.

Amber, Nina, Fabian and Patricia came into view, all of them with hopeful faces.

"Eddie!" Patricia ran forward, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend. He responded and buried his head in her auburn hair.

"Oh, Mara!" Amber said, worry filling her eyes.

"She's so skinny." Fabian gasped. They all turned to her sleeping form.

"Let's get them inside. It's only a short walk." Nina said.

They made it back to Anubis safely and made their way up to the girls' room, to discuss and also to make sure that they were Ok.

"Eddie," Patricia started, once they were up. "Do you… do you think that you could tell us what happened?"

All eyes turned to him, except Mara. She was asleep on Amber's bed.

"No." he said shortly.

"Well, are you Ok?" Fabian cleared his throat.

"No." he said again, looking down.

"Eddie, can you tell us _anything_"

"No."

"Guys, just leave him alone." Jerome said from his place next to Mara.

"Yeah," Joy agreed. "He's fragile right now. Just let him sleep."

Hearing this Eddie got up, leaving the room and slamming the door shut. The room was quiet until Jerome spoke.

"Um.. I'm gonna take Mara up to her room. G'night."

He scooped her up into his arms and stepped around the people on the floor. Joy opened the door for him and he made his way to Mara's room. Kicking the door open, he wasn't surprised at how light she was. She probably hadn't eaten properly in ages.

He placed her down gently and covered her with the blanket.

"Good night, Mara." He whispered, touching her face lightly.

**Line Break**

Breakfast was exceptionally quiet the next morning. It was a Saturday so there was no school. Mara and Eddie hadn't come down, but, Fabian had told them, Eddie _was _ awake.

"You're all so quiet." Trudy mused. "It's not natural."

Nobody had the energy to reply. Just a chorus of mumbles as they pretended to eat.

"Hmm, there is definitely something going-" she stopped short. "Mara! Dear, I haven't seen you in so long."

Everyone's head turned instantly to the door, where Mara stood, smiling widely as she embraced Trudy. Jerome was first to get up. His heart skipped a beat and fingers were trembling slightly.

Their eyes met and in that moment, Jerome couldn't recall a time where he had been more happy.

Mara was first to rush forward as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. He inhaled her sweet scent and savoured the moment. He buried his head in her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her a waist. He'd forgotten that there were other people in the room, until he was pulled away from Mara by none other than Amber, looking for a hug aswell.

"Oh, Mara!" she hugged her tightly. "I missed you!"

Mara laughed, "I missed you too, Amber."

"Had a good holiday?" Patricia joked and punched Mara in the arm.

"The best." She smiled widely.

But, it was only when she got to Joy that she burst into happy tears. She held Joy and Joy held her as they cried together.

"Am I missing something?" Trudy asked Jerome.

He smirked. "No, nothing at all."

**I have something big planned, but I thought that I'd do a happy-ish chapter first. I'll start writing it now!**

**Oh, and thanks for the reviews, I love you guys! :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Your reviews make me smile. :)**

"But, I want to go to school." Mara whined. They- minus Eddie- were sitting at the breakfast table, trying to talk her out of going to school.

"Mara, I really think that you should stay here and rest." Patricia said.

"I've been sleeping for days!" she argued. "I want to go."

Jerome chuckled and said, "Only you, Mara." So that only she could hear.

She grinned up at him, her brown eyes twinkling.

"You know," Alfie started. "You're taking this really well. Why aren't you all… like Eddie is?"

She shrugged, taking a muffin from the table. "People handle things differently. Eddie's obviously still shook up about it all."

"No duh." Patricia scoffed. "I went to talk to him three times and he didn't say a single word to me."

"Yeah, he wouldn't talk to me either." Fabian agreed. "And I don't think he slept either."

"Just let him take it in for a while." Nina said. "I'm sure he'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Unless he falls into depression, has to be checked into a mental home and slowly goes crazy." Amber said absent-mindedly, playing with her cereal.

**Line Break**

Having succeeded in persuading Trudy in to letting her go to school, Mara skipped happily up the stairs to get ready. She hadn't been in clean clothes for so long, she couldn't wait to get to school. She'd missed all of the schoolwork, teachers and even just walking down the corridors. It'd been too long.

Taking her time with the clothes, hair and make-up, she finally made it downstairs. The big smile on her face faded when she remembered Eddie. She changed her route and went down the boys corridor, knocking lightly on Eddie and Fabian's door.

Nobody answered, she wasn't expecting anyone to, so she opened it anyway. She stepped inside, surprised by the darkness.

"Eddie?" she asked hesitantly. Scanning the room, she found Eddie rolled up on his bed.

Hearing Mara's voice, he turned around slightly, letting her know that she was awake.

"Oh, Eddie." She moved forward, sitting on the edge of his bed. "What's wrong?"

He turned around fully and gave her a look as if to say 'Are you serious?'

"Ok, stupid question. But, you know that you're safe know. He can't get to you anymore." She reassured him.

"You don't know that." He mumbled. "He could jump out of any corner and take us back to that room. We're not safe."

"Eddie, you need to stop thinking like that, you'll go crazy."

"What? It's true." He raised an eyebrow.

"It may be, but don't let that take over your whole life. " she punched him lightly. "Get out into the sun."

"It's raining." He pointed out.

"You're ruining my speech." She pouted.

He smiled a little. "Ok, carry on."

"Anyway… where was I? Oh yeah, go get your life back. You're free to do whatever you want! Don't waste it in bed. In the dark. Doing nothing productive."

"Are you saying I should go to school?" he questioned.

"Well, yeah! Why wouldn't you? Don't you miss it?"

"Ha, no." he scoffed. "No amount of Rufus and his psycho-ness could make me miss school."

"He's not psycho…" she tried to think of a word. "He's just mentally imbalanced."

"Really. Mara, you're defending the guy who kidnapped you?" he sat up.

"No… I'm…" she struggled. "You're missing the point here!"

"Ok, fine. I'm going outside, but not to school."

"Ok, I'll take that." She smiled. "No, _get up._" She pushed him out of bed. He found his way, somewhat drunkenly, to the door and flung it open, storming out dramatically.

Mara laughed, rolling her eyes and following him out.

**Line Break**

After getting changed, Eddie threw on his jacket and made his way down the path. The air was cold and a thin layer of ice blanketed the ground. He hugged his small denim jacket closer to his body; the wind was biting at his bare skin.

Eddie wandered down the road, eyes fixed on his feet and hands buried deep inside his pockets. By now, he was really regretting coming outside, but, for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to turn back around.

Everything reminded him of Rufus.

It just seemed to link. The tree's because of the looming one that he could see from the small window in that room. The darkness; he had been trapped in it for days and days. Even the small bits of broken tarmac on the pavement. He didn't know why, it just un-eased him.

Looking up, Eddie realised that he didn't know where he was. This road was unfamiliar to him. He furrowed his eyebrows and turned around. The road seemed endless. He shrugged to no one and carried on walking. Rounding another corner, Eddie was met by some sort of crime scene.

Although the sirens weren't sound, the flashing lights were rotating on the police cars. There was a large group of people trying to get past the yellow police line and about eight armed officers surrounding one of the houses. Eddie watched, stunned to the spot, as a man in a grey hoodie jumped out of a first floor window, surprisingly landing on his feet. He watched in awe as the man began running. But, Eddie's mood changed when he realised that he was running toward him.

Every single one of the officers ran a t full speed towards Eddie, chasing the criminal. Eddie finally came to the conclusion that he should run, the other way. But, unfortunately, he decided a bit to late. The un-named man grabbed at Eddie's arm, hooking an arm around his neck, choking him in the process.

"Back off!" the man exclaimed in a gruff voice. "Everybody back away or the boy gets it. He pulled the gun out of his bag, pointing it directly at Eddie's head.

"Ok, now… drop your weapons." He said, the desperation clear in his strained voice.

The police officers held their hand up, stepping back slightly.

Eddie stopped struggling, he'd lost all hope.

**So, I lied to you. Turns out, I _am _a psychopath. We took a test in English today, to determine if we were, and mine came back positive.**

**So, yeah. I'm psycho and proud.**

**Review because… well, yeah. Review :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**I _know _that I'm going off plot but, I promise I will bring back the 'Dear Mya' plot really soon! I kind of forgot about it, but I keep getting weird ideas and I write them. I really regret putting the last chapter up, but I don't want to delete it..**

**P.S. I haven't forgotten about Eddie, this is just a little from Mara's P.O.V**

Eventually making it to school, Mara, Jerome, Joy and Patricia ran inside, thankful for the warmth and central heating. Brushing her skirt off, Mara smiled happily, looking around at the school she so dearly missed.

"Mara!" a voice exclaimed. She spun around, already knowing who it was.

"Hey, Poppy!" she smiled brightly, enveloping the smaller girl in a hug.

"Where've you been?" Poppy asked, pulling away and also smiling. "It's been ages!"

"Just… family stuff." She lied, brushing it off. "But, I'm back now."

Poppy considered this for a while before shrugging and wrapping her arms around her friend again. "Well, it's good to have you back. But, I need to get going; can't be late for Maths. My teacher's a witch."

She gave Mara one last hug before disappearing off around the corner. She turned back to her friends who were chatting quietly behind her.

"Mara," Patricia called. "You read?"

She nodded and they made their way to class, discussing everything that Mara had missed.

**Line Break**

By break time, Mara had greeted everyone who didn't know where she'd been, caught up in her English lessons and successfully convinced Joy to ask Ethan out.

She sat in the drama room, laptop out and in her lap. Her first and most important thought was to check her Dear Mya emails.

_29 new emails._

Scrolling through them all, she was disappointed to find that there were none from Jerome. Her shoulders dropped but she quickly reminded her self that he _had _been pre-occupied. She picked one at random, intending to answer each and every one of them in one sitting.

_Dear Mya,_

_My parents are trying to pull me out of this school! I love it here; how can I convince them not to?_

_Cassie.D_

Mara smiled. This one would be easy to reply to.

_Cassie,_

_Our school has 99% A*-C grades, 79% of them being in English and Maths. If that doesn't convince your parents, I don't know what will! It's safe, the teachers are all qualified and decent and it has excellent facilities. I don't think you'd be able to find a better school! _

_Mya_

Sending it off to Cassie, Mara scrolled through and found another. Just five minutes later, she'd read and answered eighteen of the twenty-nine existing emails. After checking the clock hanging on the wall in front of her and seeing that she still had ten minutes before she had to leave for History, she opened another.

_Dear Mya,_

_There's this girl I like. I'm really not good at feelings and all that but I do know that I like her. But, yesterday, I saw her with another buy. She was looking over at me, but the guy seemed pretty keen to get her attention. I hate to say it, but he is a good-looking guy and I'd see why she'd pick him over me. How can I win her heart?_

_Ethan._

She frowned. Ethan? He was the guy that Joy liked. Mara furrowed her eyebrow; why didn't people make themselves anonymous. It was so much easier. Joy could easily see this. Fingers poised at the keyboard, Mara paused. Another thought had come to mind. This boy was 'keen to get her attention'. She was pretty sure that it was Jerome, that Ethan was talking about. Why would Jerome be trying to get Joy's attention?

Knowing that she had a tendency to over-think things, Mara brushed it off, deciding not to answer that question straight away. She banished the thought to the back of her head and continued scrolling.

There were all of the typical type questions: friendship problems, stress about GCSE's and the odd question about depression. That's why Mara loved this job. People trusted her with things like this, without even knowing who she was. She liked that people bothered even asking and, sometimes, mailed again, to say thanks and to tell her how the situation had been resolved.

"There you are!"

Mara looked up, recognising Nina's American accent anywhere, and smiled warmly at her.

"Hi, Nina. What brings you here?"

"Actually," She sat down in the seat next to her. "I was looking for you."

"Oh, Ok. What… what did you want?" Mara asked.

Nina hesitated slightly before responding. "First of all, I wanted to make sure that you were alright, it _has _been pretty traumatic."

"Really Nina, I'm fine." She reassured her.

"Ok, and… I was also wondering if you could maybe tell us what happened. Only if you're comfortable with that, of course, it's not really a need-to-know, you don't have to-"

"Nina," Mara cut off her babbling, chuckling a little. "It's fine."

Nina nodded, sheepishly.

"Nothing really happened." She began. "We were just locked in that room, we weren't… abused or anything."

"But, did you hear Rufus talking to anyone?" Nina tried. "Maybe, on the phone… or did someone come into the house?"

Mara stiffened. She wasn't really fussed about Nina asking he these things, but it _was _getting a little uncomfortable; bringing back memories.

"Um… sorry Nina, I n-need to go." She got up abruptly, saying sorry again and rushing off.

Once out of the drama room, Mara scanned the corridor for her friends. She spotted Jerome and Joy by the lockers. She hung back, just watching them. Nothing about their body language suggested any relationship between the, they were just talking.

But still, what if something had gone on, while she was away? Mara was excellent at over reacting and this is what she was doing now. She watched Joy laugh and hit Jerome lightly on the arm, that was when she didn't want to anymore. She turned back around, heading down the corridor to her History class.

Maybe Jerome had gone off Mara? The thought haunted her.

**So. Spaghetti and stuff.**

**Duck.**


	19. Chapter 19

**I do not ship Jerome and Joy. Repeat: Do NOT ship Jerome and Joy. Jara all the way! Jerome and Joy are just friends, sorry if I confused you. On with the chapter…**

At long last, the day was over. Mara loved being at school, but since she had seen Joy and Jerome, the day seemed to drag out. She walked home with Patricia and Alfie since she didn't really know how to act around the two.

"Oh, Patricia dear," Trudy came up to them as they entered the house, flustered and her face lined with worry. !Do you think that you could go and speak to Eddie. He's had a terrible day."

"Is he still not speaking?" Mara asked, disappointed.

"Oh no, he went out today." She informed them. "But, there was an accident. I'm afraid he got caught up in a crime scene. He's been to the hospital to get checked out but they say he's alright, just a little shook up."

This news was shocking to Mara. He'd been through so much already. Why him? Why now? She couldn't help the tears that welled up in her eyes or the choking sound that she made when she tried to talk.

"I'll… I'll go and see him." Patricia whispered before disappearing down the boys corridor. Mara and Alfie left also to their respective rooms.

It was only five minutes before Patricia came back, Joy with her.

"He's not talking." She said, her voice hoarse. "Or moving." Collapsing onto her bed, Patricia began sobbing loudly. Joy tried comforting her but it didn't do much help. Mara watched, thinking to herself.

Eventually, she got up, planning to visit Eddie. She took a deep breath, leaving the room and going down the stairs. But, before she reached Eddie's room, she was stopped by Jerome.

_Great. _She thought to herself.

"Are you going to see Eddie?" he asked, voice low and full of remorse.

"Y-yeah." She responded, looking down at her feet. "Excuse me." She brushed past him before he could say anything more. She had more important things to deal with.

She didn't bother knocking and entered the dark room. Mara expected him to be balled up in bed again, but Eddie was sitting, cross-legged, on the floor, facing away from her.

"E-Eddie." She said, her voice cracking. "Eddie, It's Mara."

_He knows your voice. _

She mentally kicked herself and stepped further into the room.

"I don't want to talk." He said in a low, distressed voice.

Mara froze; she wasn't expecting him to say anything. "Yo- you don't have to." She stumbled, not knowing what to say.

He was silent for a moment before sighing, he turned around.

"Mar-"

He was interrupted when the door opened, Trudy standing behind it.

"Eddie dear, I thought you'd want a little something to eat." She was holding a mug of something and a stack of pancakes, syrup dripping from the sides. "Oh, hello Mara. Jerome was looking for you, said he had something to tell you."

Mara smiled at her, nodding. "I'll go and see him now."

Leaving the room, Mara didn't bother going to Jerome's room; she didn't feel like she enough energy to speak to him. She trudged up the stairs, planning to go straight to bed.

Thankfully, nobody was in the room, so Mara could go to bed without any questions. But before she could sleep, she had an email. She smiled widely, it was Jerome.

_Dear Mya,_

_So, my girlfriend- she's not really my girlfriend but let's just call her that for my sake- has come back from her holiday. But, she's not acting the same. She's really distant and vague, but I guess that I can overlook that, considering the circumstances. What's worrying me Is how she's really reluctant to talk to me. I don't think that I've done anything wrong. Girls are complicated and I'm not going to attempt to get inside her head, but, you're a girl… aren't you. What do you think is going on in her brain?_

_Confused._

Mara felt another ton of bricks load itself onto the ton that was already on her shoulders. She felt somehow responsible for how Jerome was feeling. She was.

She quickly drafted her response.

_Confused,_

_I can guess that your 'girlfriend' is going through a lot right now. So her being vague and distant is understandable, but don't think of it as a bad thing. Just give her some time to recover, and things will be right back to normal! Maybe even better than normal.._

_Mya_

She sighed, sending it off and falling back onto her bed.

Do you ever get that feeling that too much information has been loaded onto you at once, that your brain feels like it'll explode in seconds? Mara felt very similar. She had way too much on her plate and people were expecting her to be right back to normal. Amber had already asked her to do some homework for her. Being Mara, she'd accepted and added it to the pile of work she already had.

On top of that, was Eddie, Jerome, Joy and Ethan and she still hadn't completely gotten over Rufus. Did they expect the memories to just vanish. She might not be as traumatized as Eddie, but she had troubles too.

**Line Break**

After twenty minutes of sitting in silence, Mara had decided to actually go and see Jerome. She walked down the stairs, fighting with the small part in her brain that was telling her to turn back around.

Hearing no response when she knocked on the door, she walked in, closing the door behind her. "Hello? Jerome?"

She saw nobody in the room. Sighing she turned around, about to leave. But, she stopped when she heard whimpering. She walked further into the room, trying to locate the sound. It was coming from… under the bed. She ducked, looking underneath Alfie's bed and wasn't surprised to see that it was, in fact, Alfie.

"What on earth could you be doing that requires you to be under there?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Trying to cure my claustrophobia." He said, his arms in a cross on his chest and his legs shaking.

"And, is it working."

"No," he whimpered. "Get me out of here? The beds coming down on me. I'm dying! Oh, Mara help me!"

Mara helped him out, trying hard to suppress her giggles.

"Thanks," he said, spreading his arms wide and moving around the room. "What did you need?"

"Oh," she said, for a moment she'd actually forgotten why she'd come. "Oh yeah, where's Jerome?"

"I don't know." Alfie shrugged. "He left with Joy a couple of minutes ago. Something 'urgent'." He informed her.

Her shoulders dropped and she couldn't help the way her heart began pounding in her chest. She thanked Alfie and quickly left.

She walked calmly up to her room, not knowing how to feel.

Jerome wouldn't still be sending Mya emails if he didn't like her. But, why was he sneaking around with Joy? What about Ethan?

Mara was a very curious person, and she most likely wouldn't stop until she found out what they were doing.

**Once again, I don't like Jerome and Joy as a couple. Just getting that out there. **

**Hope you liked, review :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry it's been a while, I've been sick. I know it's not an excuse but..**

As he looked at himself in the mirror, Jerome couldn't help the thoughts that ran through his head. He'd been a little paranoid lately; it wasn't like him. He ran a hand through his hair, sighing deeply.

The thought of Mara not liking him had been driving him insane all night. He didn't know what had bought it on but he'd begun to think, what if she didn't even like him? What if this whole relationship thing that he'd been hoping for, for so long, was just an imagination?

He shook his head, willing himself to think of something else. Thankfully, Alfie walked in.

"Hey," the other boy greeted, walking over to his bed.

"Morning." Jerome muttered, looking through the drawers for his cologne.

"Have you been to see Eddie?" Alfie asked, sitting down and playing with his walkie-talkie.

"No, why?"

Jerome thought that this situation just needed time. Given a couple of days alone, Eddie would be fine. Or so he hoped.

"Just wondering." He shrugged.

Neither of them spoke until it was time to go. As sad as it was, Jerome and Alfie had grown apart. They didn't hate each other, Jerome could never hate him, but they weren't nearly as close as they used to be.

Alfie left without Jerome. He told Alfie that he needed to do something which wasn't exactly lying. Getting his laptop out from under his books and folders, he laid back onto his bed.

_Dear Mya,_

_I hope it will be back to normal, and soon! I don't think I can take anymore of this waiting. But, I like her too much to just give up. She's special. Do you have any ideas as to how I can speed this thing up, or is that not possible?_

_Tired-of-waiting._

He sighed, hitting the send button and putting the laptop away. These days, _Mya _was his only hope of something actually going right and he was clinging to it as if his life depended on it.

**Line Break**

Jerome made his way upstairs, to Mara and Joy's room. The door was opened by Patricia but she pushed past him, rushing downstairs.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked as he walked in, sitting on the nearest bed.

"She's going to see Eddie." Mara informed him, coming out of the bathroom in her uniform.

"Waste of time if you ask me." He looked down, to stop himself from staring.

"Don't say that." Joy scolded him, but not looking up from her phone.

"She's helping her boyfriend." Mara sat on her bed, brushing her hair.

"Yeah, but he needs space." Jerome argued. "He'll get annoyed if people keep going back to him."

Mara considered it. "Maybe." She muttered, rummaging through the drawers. "Joy, where's my flower pin?"

"It's in the third one down." She said, still not looking up.

"What are you doing?" Jerome asked, turning to her.

"Nothing." She murmured.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me." Mara said as she clipped a strand of hair back.

Joy finally looked up, a grin on her face. "Fine, I'm talking to Ethan."

Jerome rolled his eyes but he noticed Mara's uncomfortable look.

"What?" it seemed Joy did too.

She shook her head. "Nothing,"

"Mara." Joy's eyes narrowed. "Do you like Ethan?"

Jerome felt his stomach drop as he heard those words. He'd never considered it a possibility.

"No, don't be silly." She waved it off. "Now, let's go otherwise we'll be late."

Jerome and Joy agreed and they went down to the dining room for breakfast. Everyone except Eddie and Patricia were seated already. There was no hushed whispering, everything was still.

Anubis house was still a little tense, the passed events still weighing heavily on all of their shoulders.

"Alfie," Mara started in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. "How's the claustrophobia thing going?"

He frowned. "Not well, but I'm keeping at it. I locked myself in the mummy last night."

Before anyone could answer, heavy combat boots were heard stomping down the corridor. Patricia entered the room, the infamous scowl on her face.

"I'm guessing he won't talk to you." Amber said, looking up at her.

She said nothing, sending the girl an angry look and throwing herself down onto one of the available seats.

"Just give it some time, Patricia."

"That's what I said." Jerome agreed with Fabian. "Pestering him is not going to help."

Mara shot him a look. "She's just trying to help."

"He needs support." Joy and Nina nodded.

"But if you keep pushing him," Alfie retorted. "He'll push _us _away."

"I see what you're saying, both of you. But, in all, he just needs some time to clear his head." Amber said, unusually… wise.

All eyes turned to her.

"What?" she stared back.

"Come on, dearies." Trudy came in, starting to clear the table. "You must be getting on to school."

Everyone sighed, reluctantly getting up out of their seats. None of them were really in the mood for school.

**Line Break**

The three of them left, walking to school in comfortable silence. Each of them had too much going on in their heads.

Joy was wondering if she'd see Ethan once they got into school. She really was love-struck; a school girl with a school girl crush. She was subtly trying to re-arrange her hair and make herself look presentable. She was really changing, but was it for the better or worse?

Mara's eyes were flitting between Jerome and Joy, on either side of her. Hugging her folder to her chest, she couldn't help but feel a little insecure with the two. She still hadn't found out what was going on between them, but she would. She was a journalist; it was what they did.

Jerome was rolling the thought in his head. Was it possible that Mara liked Ethan? He would have to monitor the two carefully, although, he had never actually seen them together. Determined, persistent and head-strong were just a few words to describe Jerome. If Ethan Court thought he'd be able to just steal his girl like that, then he had another thing coming.

**I write this for you, so I hope you liked it! Thanks to you who reviewed. :)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Apologies for the long wait, I've been a bit busy… with school and stuff. Enjoy and thanks for reviews :)**

As soon as the bell rang, signalling the end of second period, Mara shot up and rushed out of the class. Planning to go to the computer room to check her emails, she hurried down the corridors, not looking where she was going. Consequently, she soon found herself face to face with Ethan Court, his eyes travelling behind her.

He looked down at Mara, realising that he was in her way and stepped to side, apologising quietly. However, mara had also moved out of the way, intending to go past so they ended up right where they started.

He chuckled lightly. "Sorry, Mara, right?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "And it's Ethan isn't it? Joy's friend."

His eyes, which had wandered behind her again, snapped back down to her at the mention of Joy's name.

"Y-yeah, how did you know?"

"I'm in Joy's house, roommates… best friends." She added.

He nodded. "Oh yeah, she's mentioned you a couple times."

Mara noticed his gaze fall behind her again and turned aswell. No surprise; Joy was standing there at her locker, talking to Amber and Jerome. She watched Amber shout something at Jerome and stomp away while he and Joy laughed at her tantrum.

"Do you," Mara turned back to Ethan when he started talking. "Do you know he is?" he asked timidly.

"Jerome, he's in Anubis aswell." She said. She knew what he was trying to get out of her but she waited for him to ask.

"Only, I've seen him and Joy together a lot…" Ethan trailed off. "Are they, you know, dating or anything."

"No, no." she assured him. "They're just good friends."

That part, was also trying to convince herself.

At that moment in time, Mara remembered that she had forgotten to respond to his question which also reminded her that she had a lot of emails to read.

"Sorry, I've got to go, nice meeting you." She smiled and they said goodbye.

She reached the computer room with only ten minutes left of break. Quickly logging on, Mara was disappointed to see that Jerome hadn't written in. She sighed, scrolling the through the four others before eventually clicking on Ethan's.

Just as she was about to start writing, she felt a presence behind her. Minimising the screen, she turned to see that it was Jerome.

"Hey Jaffray." He said coolly, sitting next to her.

She forced herself to relax before muttering a quick hello, pretending to be occupied with homework.

They sat there for at least five minutes in complete silence, Mara clicking away and Jerome staring at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, suddenly.

She turned to look at him and instantly regretted it. His ice blue eyes were piercing into hers, ridding her of all sanity.

"Uh… y-yeah. Why?" she stuttered, looking away.

"No you're not." He said, smoothly. "You're so on edge and… tense."

"I'm no-"

"You are," he stood up. "Which is why, we're going to the park."

He placed his arms on her shoulders and steered her out of her seat, igniting a spark inside her.

"Bu-but, we have school. Breaks over in five minutes and we have Maths and-"

"Ah-ah," he cut her off again. "It's only one lesson. It's not gonna hurt anybody. And besides, it was school that did this to you, too much pressure.

He was up to something. Definitely.

Acting weird and tense when she was hiding something was an idiosyncrasy of hers, and Jerome knew her well enough to notice this. If he already knew she was keeping a secret, why was he going along with the 'pressures of school' thing.

Oddly, Mara found herself following Jerome as they crept out of the gates and down the main road.

The children's park was only around the corner so it didn't take more than two minutes to get there.

"C'mon!" Jerome called from the round-a-bout. She laughed lightly and followed him.

A dizzy ride and a half later, the two of them were staggering around the park, still recovering from the spinning. She laughed as she climbed into the baby swings. "Push me!" she giggled.

"Hey, no fair! I'm not small enough to fit in there." he complained, resembling a little boy.

She stuck her tongue out at him and rattled the handle bars, kicking her legs. He laughed and ducked behind, pushing the swing higher than she'd expected. She shrieked and kicked her legs higher.

She was having so much fun, messing around with Jerome, that she didn't realise that it had already been twenty minutes. "We should get going," she said, glancing at her watch.

"No," he pouted, looking up at her from the bench. "Just a little longer."

She could feel herself melting as she surrendered, sitting down next to him. Resting her head on his shoulder she let out a sigh. "Thanks, Jerome." She muttered sleepily. "I don't remember the last time I had fun like that.

"My pleasure, Jaffray." He shifted slightly, moving closer to her. "My pleasure."


	22. Chapter 22

**Huh, it's been a while. So sorry for making you wait for so long but I had things going on. On another note, this story should be coming to an end soon. After that, I'll make sure not to start any multi-chaps unless I know I have the time!**

**Now, read..**

"So," Eddie mused as they sat in school, "How's it going with Jerome?"

Mara looked up, surprised. Alfie, of all people, had somehow convinced the boy to come out of his dark room and back to humanity. She hadn't expected him to make conversation when she sat next to him in the Drama room.

"What do you mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "The 'Dear Mya' business. Has Jerome come clean or what?"

"Oh… um, he-" she stuttered, suddenly uncomfortable.

Eddie smirked. "Still nothing? Looks like Jerry isn't as brave as it seems."

"He's just nervous." Mara tried to defend him. Although, it seemed as if she was trying to convince herself.

It had been nearly two months since she'd received the first email from Jerome. And, he still hadn't tried to make a move. She was trying to be patient, she really was, but he was taking an awful long time to get his feelings across.

"Why don't _you _make the move?" Eddie broke her chain of thoughts.

"Sorry?" she furrowed her brows.

He shifted to face her. "Why don't you tell him that you like him?"

"Um, because…" Mara stopped short, not knowing what to say.

"Yo-you do like him, right? Only, you've never told me how _you _feel about all this."

Mara sighed, putting the book occupying her hands down. "I do. I really do. I'm just… I'm scared." She confessed. "If he tells me that he likes me, and I tell him, I would have to tell him that I'm Mya."

"You don't _have _to…" Eddie suggested.

"I wouldn't be able to live with that guilt, Eddie!" she cried. "This, right now, is killing me! He thinks that he's telling a complete stranger, in confidence, about how he loves a girl. When, in reality, the stranger that he's telling is the girl! Wouldn't you be angry if you were him?"

"You just need to get this over with!" Eddie retaliated. "Tell him. Just tell him everything."

And, oddly, Mara found herself arguing. With herself.

**LINE BREAK**

Sitting in the living room, Mara had her head buried in a book. _Les misrables _to be specific. There could've have been an apocalypse brewing and she wouldn't have noticed; the words on the page were so captivating, the seemed to take her to another world.

But, nothing lasts forever. Mara was eventually disturbed when someone sat on the chair in front of her. Eyes flitting upwards, she saw that it was Jerome. Her eyes darted back down, hoping that he didn't see her looking. She decided to let him start the conversation. Partly because she wanted to see where he'd take it but mostly because she was scared out of her wits. The boy made her nervous.

What surprised Mara, was that he never did. He sat there in silence, watching her. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks as she brought the book closer to her, covering her face.

She risked a look up but regretted it instantly. The small pools of a hypnotising blue seemed to pierce through her in just the slightest, fleeting glance. Mara didn't have to look up to see the smirk that she knew was on Jerome's face.

"Mara!" Joy ran into the room, interrupting them. "Mara, Mara, mara! Guess what!"

Finally closing the book, Mara looked up to see her friend practically bouncing on the spot. "Uh, did you-"

"No!" Joy cut her off before she had the chance. Mara couldn't help but chuckle at her friends happiness. "Ethan asked me out!" she exclaimed as she fell, melodramatically across Mara's lap.

"When? Where?" she shared her friend's excitement. "Aw, how did he do it?"

But she was lying. She already knew. She had responded to Ethan's email the night before, advising him on how to ask Joy out.

"He asked me after school." Joy told her. "He sent me a not in History telling me to meet him behind the school and he was really sweet! Oh Mara, he's just so perfect."

"Eurgh," Jerome finally spoke and Mara met his eyes, but only for a second.

Joy got up off of Mara, turning to face Jerome. "What?"

"Why are girls so…" he struggled to find the words, "Girly." He concluded. Mara couldn't help but laugh quietly.

Jerome put his feet up on the table, taking in pride in being able to make her laugh.

"Why are boys so boy-y?" she mocked him.

He scoffed. "That doesn't even make sense."

Joy rolled her eyes, pushing his feet and sitting on the table. "Anyway, I'm so nervous, I think I'm going to explode. So, I was wondering if you'd maybe tag along.?" She put her hands together, pleading.

"I don't want to be a third wheel!" Mara shook her head. "And it's not going to be romantic if I'm sitting there."

"Yeah, I know that." Joy rolled her eyes again. "That's why you need a date."

Shaking her head again, Mara looked up at he friend. "No way." She said sternly.

"Not a _real _date. Just take Jerome." She gestured behind him, where he still sat. Except now, his ears had perked and he was listening with narrowed eyes.

"Or Eddie, it doesn't matter." Joy finished, starting to be again.

Mara leaned across Joy, facing Jerome with raised eyebrows. "How about it?" she said calmly, even though she was freaking out inside.

"Uh, yeah." He said boldly. "Sure." Mara smiled, shyly, staring up at him.

"Great!" Joy squealed, ruining the small moment. "Come on, we have to go get ready!"

She got up, dragging Mara with her up the stairs. Jerome was left sat there, a massive grin on his face.

**LINE BREAK**

She stared at her computer screen, lost for words. Joy was finishing off getting ready and Mara had decided to check her email. She was glad she did.

_Dear Mya,_

_I'm going to tell her. That's right, I'm doing it! Tonight! I'll let you know how it turns out. Wish me luck. A lot of it…_

_Ready To Go._

**So, probably one more chapter, two max. Thanks for all of your support, everyone who's ever read, reviewed, favourited, followed, the whole lot! It means a lot to me!**

**~Insanity ;)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Last chapter, guys! **

**(I may have accidently updated the same chapter twice.. but here is the actual one)**

**Enjoy :)**

The two girls stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for their dates to arrive. Joy had picked both of their outfits, to Mara's dismay. She was dressed in a long top, that went in at the waist with a loose belt and white leggings, on her feet, white ballerina flats. Her hair had been curled and her fringe swept to the side. A silver necklace hung from her neck, an assortment of encrusted keys dangling from it.

Joy, not knowing whether to keep it simple or to go all out, had chosen a sparkly black top, long grey cardigan and black, ripped skinny jeans. She's straightened her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, finishing it off with a small bow head band and shin length flat boots.

Unsurprisingly, both girls had butterflies in their stomachs. Although, Mara felt that the metaphor was completely inappropriate in this situation. It was more like two starved beasts, wrestling inside her, fighting to get out.

Jerome had been instructed to meet Ethan at the top of the path near the school and show him back to Anubis.

After what felt like hours, the boys appeared through the door. Mara felt her heart in her throat as she saw Jerome. She didn't know what made her more nervous; the fact that he was about to tell her or how he would go about it. And, of course, there was the small thing of having to tell him she was Mya. No big deal…

"So, shall we go?" Jerome started since Ethan looked too nervous to say anything, let alone to Joy directly.

He wore a white shirt, top button left undone; black jeans, not too skinny but far from baggy and black and white plimsoll like shoes. His dirty blonde hair ha been combed forward so that his fringe covered his forehead, although he kept trying to move it out of his eyes. Ethan, the same except his shirt was grey and he was wearing a jacket.

Both girl nodded and joined their respective dates, Joy and Ethan out of the door first. Mara watched them talk nervously, a smile on her face.

She suddenly became hyper-aware of Jerome next to her. Their arms were touching as they walked, his body heat radiating onto her.

"You look beautiful," he said, suddenly, slipping is hands into his trouser pockets and smiling shyly down at her. This was a new side of Jerome that she hadn't seen. But she liked it.

Mara's eyes widened at the compliment. She bit down on her lip. "Y-you too. No, I mean… not beautiful but, uh, you look-" she stuttered. Obviously, the shyness was contagious.

"It's Ok, Jaffray," he stopped her, the smile evident in his voice. "I know what you mean."

She sighed, relaxing her shoulder's a little. "They're cute together." She said, looking to Joy and Ethan who had somehow managed to slip their hands together as they walked on.

Jerome agreed, "Poor guy, he's too jittery. He needs to calm down."

"I thought he was going to throw up when you walked in."

He chuckled, flicking his hair out of his eyes again. "Yeah, well not everyone can have a natural cool."

"Like you?" Mara raised an eyebrow.

"Especially me." He smirked.

**LINE BREAK**

Upon entering the restaurant, Mara noticed that it was fancy; an unfamiliar environment. Jerome, of course, had held the door open for her, letting her go first.

Mara blushed.

Having been ahead of the other two, Joy and Ethan picked a small booth nearer the back of the restaurant to sit and slid into one side, leaving the other for Jerome and Mara. Once seated, both couples conferred about what to order.

The waitress left to get their orders and Mara decided to start a conversation.

"So, Ethan. Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself." She said, politely. "the rest of us know each other quite well."

His dark eyes flitted to each of them in turn, nervously. "Um, I'm kind of new here. I only started at this school last term, my dad got a new job so we decided to move." He paused, not knowing what to say but Joy smiled at him encouragingly. "I don't really have any hobbies but I guess I'm kind of a film geek."

"What a coincidence." Jerome cut in. "So is Joy!"

"Guilty." Joy smiled, blushing lightly. "Who's your favourite director?"

The two became immersed in a nerdy conversation about science-fiction films and Steven Spielberg, leaving Jerome and Mara sitting in an awkward silence.

"Jaffray," he started, turning to her. "Entertain me."

Mara laughed at the naturalness of his voice which was one of the things she admired about him. "And how do you suppose I do that?"

He thought for a bit before answering. "Tell me about a book you've read recently."

Although Mara thought it was a strange request, she continued, choosing the book she had finished the night before. "Have you ever read 'The Outsiders' by S.E. Hinton?"

Jerome shook his head and she carried on to explain the overall plot of the book.

"It's about gangs and violence. The narrator is a fourteen year old called Ponyboy-"

He cut her off. "Ponyboy? I-is that his real name?"

"Yeah, I think his dad was kind of wacky. His brother is called Sodapop."

"Wow, that's a…nice name."

As Mara told the story of the hardship of life and the rivalry between the 'socials' and the 'greasers', Jerome watched her with interest. He watched her eyebrows dance and her lips turn upwards when she was on a humorous bit of the story. They way her eyes watered slightly nearer the end, the saddest part.

"And, it ends there." she concluded, finally looking up at him.

"Sounds emotional." He cleared his throat, looking away from her. "I'll read it when we get back."

Mara raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Uh, yeah. Why so surprised?"

"Sorry, I just never had you down as much of a reader.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Jaffray. " he winked at her.

Their orders came before she could respond. The red-headed waitress set them down on the table, wishing them a good meal.

Mara , taking a bit of her quiche, snuck a glance at Jerome only to find him already looking at her. She smiled a small smile before looking back at her food, her cheeks burning. Her thoughts were clouded with him and what was coming.

"Joy, what's wrong with your face?" Jerome exclaimed, a weird look on his face,

She rolled her eyes, stopping her fork midway between her mouth and her plate. "Not gonna work, Jerome. I've heard this one before.

"No, seriously."

Mara looked and saw what he was talking about. Joy's cheeks had turned red and her forearms had broken out in a rash. "Joy, what did you order?"

"The seafood special," she muttered, having realised what Jerome was saying and brought her hands up to cover her face.

Mara thought before she found out what it was. "Aren't you allergic to prawns?"

"Oh god!" she sighed, frustrated.

Ethan stood. "Don't worry. I'll take you to the A&E." he offered, smiling down at her.

"Really? Would you?" Joy asked, not wanting to trouble him.

He helped her up. "Yeah, of course."

As they were leaving, Joy sent Mara a look of dismay to which she just laughed, knowing that, by the morning, it would've been forgotten about.

"And then there were two." Jerome remarked, leaning back in his seat.

Mara, looking out of the window, saw that it was already dark and predicted that 10 O' clock wasn't far away. "We… should get going back to the house." She suggested.

He agreed and they both got up to leave, not stopping to pay since Ethan already had.

Mara's teeth were chattering and she was shivering just slightly when they got outside. But it wasn't from the cold. It was nerves. And anticipation.

**LINE BREAK**

They arrived back at Anubis with ten minutes to spare, Jerome held the door open for her yet again. Mara guessed that nearly everyone had gone to bed since it was relatively quiet.

"So..."

Jerome leaned back on his heels. "So…"

There was a moments silence before both of them broke out into laughter. They quietened down after realizing that they were the only ones making noise.

Mara braced herself for what was coming, the two beasts in her stomach making a comeback.

But, it never came.

"Goodnight, Jaffray." Jerome almost whispered as he strolled away, back to his room. Mara stood there, her feet not wanting to move. The violent feeling inside had gone and was replaced with disappointment. An empty pit of heart wrenching disappointment.

Once she had dragged herself upstairs, she collapsed on her bed. Patricia was asleep and Joy was still in the hospital so she was as alone as she'd get. Staring up at the ceiling, Mara didn't know how to feel. She couldn't bring herself to cry but she felt as though she was going to.

Her laptop pinged in the silence, making Mara jump slightly. She sat up, sighing and checked her email. She froze.

It was Jerome. She opened it with a shaking hand.

_Dear Mya,_

_I Love You._

Her jaw became slack as she stared at the bright screen in complete and utter shock. She felt jittery and her hands were shaking. She was shell shocked.

She was interrupted by a knock at the door. Somehow, Mara swung off of the bed and crept to the door. She pressed her ear against it lightly but couldn't hear anything. Straightening up, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

Jerome stood there, leaning against the door frame. His blue eyes weren't icy anymore and they didn't have that hint of mischief that they always did. They were sincere.

Mara couldn't contain herself. She jumped forward, catching him by surprise. Although he was caught off guard, Jerome kissed Mara back with twice as much emotion that she was giving. It was sweet, slow and everything Mara could've hoped for.

"How did you know?" Mara asked when they broke apart, arms still around his neck.

Jerome smirked. The mischievous glint in his eyes was back. "You underestimate me, Jaffray."

She smiled, resting her head on his chest and letting out a deep breath. "I love you, Jerome." She whispered.

His breath hitched in his throat and he felt like he was going to cry, although he would never admit that to anyone. "I love you to, Mara,"

**Ta da! It's over! How'd you like the ending. I'm pretty satisfied with it. Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who's ever read, reviewed, favourited or put this story on alert because it really means a lot. Thanks and thanks again!**

**P.S. I really would recommend 'The Outsiders' to anyone who's looking for a good book to read! I finished it the other day. A book has never made me cry but this one brought me to the closest that I've ever gotten.**

**Peace.**

**~Insanity ;)**


End file.
